Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi tweeted on Saturday a video, which misleadingly claimed that National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recorded 'Om' as a sound emanating from the sun.
The video Bedi tweeted is not the original video that NASA released in 2018 of the sun's sonification but instead is a different video that amplifies the 'Om' sound.
Furthermore, NASA has not made any statement correlating the sun's 'sound' to Om.
On January 4, 2020 Bedi tweeted the below video which immediately went viral. The video mentions that ancient civilizations knew about a sound that the sun emanated and therefore worshipped it.
Along with Bedi's tweet, a 2018 news clipping by Telugu channel Sneha TV, with the same claim has also gone viral on social media. Sneha TV took down the Youtube video after the story was published. BOOM received the video on its WhatsApp helpline from several users to verify the same.
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Fact Check
BOOM looked at the logo mentioned in the video in Bedi's tweet and found a 2017 video shared on YouTube. Bedi's 1:50 seconds clipping has been culled from this 3:20 seconds video.
We also found that the video and audio which resembles the 'Om' chant is not from the original video that NASA published in 2018.
On further investigation, BOOM discovered that the video that Sneha TV used is similar to another video shared four years ago by a Facebook profile called 'It Happens Only In India'. The audio of the video shared by Sneha TV and Kiran Bedi is the same but the videos have been created using different graphics.
The caption of the Facebook video uses scientific jargon to explain how NASA recorded the sun's sound and then further plays an amplified sound which is very similar to the Indian chant. The post also refers to a study conducted by University of Sheffield, explains the technology employed in getting the sound and the importance and spirituality in the 'Om' chant.
This University of Sheffield study conducted in 2010 found huge magnetic loops in the sun's atmosphere but did not record sound waves as sound cannot travel through vaccum. This study also does not mention the 'Om' syllable.
The Facebook post further explains that NASA has not issued any such statement which refers to the sound as the syllable/chant but goes on to say that the humming can be interpreted as 'Om'.
NASA's original video
NASA released the research that they had conducted on the sound of the sun in July 2018 wherein they showcased data from ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). They have captured the dynamic movement of the sun's atmosphere for over 20 years.
NASA's official YouTube channel uploaded two videos depicting the sun's sonification and frequency in the form of a raw audio and another one with a voiceover by Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The video states that like every other substance, even the sun has waves and frequencies. NASA has used various technologies to convert this frequency to sound so that it assists scientists to study a range of complex motions inside the sun, from solar flares to coronal mass ejections as stated by NASA.
NASA had also tweeted this in July 2018.
The audio is also available on Soundcloud. NASA has not made any statement with the sound/humming being similar to 'Om'. BOOM has reached out to NASA asking for a clarification whether the scientists found any resemblance to 'Om'. The story will be updated upon receiving a reply.