Sound waves travel through the dense plasma of the sun, creating acoustic pressure waves so immensely loud that they would permanently deafen everyone on Earth if space were not a vacuum.

A closer look

Sound waves travel through the dense plasma of the sun, creating acoustic pressure waves so immensely loud that they would permanently deafen everyone on Earth if space were not a vacuum. The surface of our nearest star is essentially a chaotic, roaring ocean of nuclear explosions that generates sound at over two hundred and ninety decibels. Fortunately for us, sound requires a medium to travel through, so the ninety-three million miles of empty space between us and the sun acts as the ultimate noise-canceling headphone. We look up at the bright, silent orb in the sky and associate it with warm summer days and peaceful sunsets, completely oblivious to the fact that it is screaming at the top of its lungs with the force of a billion atomic bombs. It is comforting to know that the universe has at least one built-in mute button to protect us from absolute auditory destruction