This made my whole morning! Artist Kate Paterson found a way to get the moon to remix its own ode — Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
Earth-Moon-Earth (EME), or “moonbounce,” is an experimental kind of radio transmission first proposed in 1940 by a British communications engineer. With EME, messages are sent in Morse code from Earth, reflected off the surface of the Moon, and then received back on Earth. Later realized by the US military after WWII, today the technique is used by amateur radio operators across the world. Currently, EME provides the longest communications path for any two radio stations on Earth.
Fascinated with this curious mode of communication, Paterson translated Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata into Morse code and sent it to the Moon via radio waves. Ostensibly “remixed” as it bounced off the contours of the Moon’s surface, the sonata was then retranslated into a new score and played by a grand piano at Modern Art Oxford.
You can listen to the remixed sonata here: http://www.katiepaterson.org/sounds/katie_paterson_sonata.mp3
It's really beautiful, and just different enough to make a girl go ... moony. (I had to!)
