Holland Doc: Radio-quiet Zone

© Roy Smits & Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Why are ASTRON and the WSRT located in a radio-quiet zone? Arie Visser from Holland Doc, a platform for documentaries on the Dutch public network, asked astronomer Roy Smits this question and in the process learned about the beautiful sounds of space.

The image shows part of a sound-file of the heart-beat like pulsar B0329+54, recorded by the Lovell Telescope and displayed by audacity.

The episode aired on Sunday 28 July on radio 1. It can still be heard here (in Dutch, starting after 45 minutes):

http://www.radio1.nl/terugluisteren/tijd?terugluisteren_dag=2013-07-28&terugluisteren_hour=21