The sound of a spacecraft passing between Saturn and its rings is straight out of 'Alien'

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The sound of a spacecraft passing between Saturn and its rings is straight out of 'Alien'

On April 26, NASA's Cassini spacecraft shot between Saturn and its innermost ring, going where no human-made object has gone before. Cassini has already made some new discoveries thanks to its dive through the ring plane. One of those insights is that the area between the planet and its rings "sounds" different than other parts of space surrounding Saturn.  SEE ALSO: The Cassini spacecraft dove between Saturn and its rings: Here are the photos to prove it According to new audio files released by NASA, the 1,500-mile-wide gap between Saturn and its distinctive rings actually sounds pretty empty.  A raw image of Saturn as seen by Cassini not long after its ring dive.Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechOther parts of space around Saturn are filled with particles of dust that can be heard by Cassini's plasma detector. This instrument picks up the signal from dust that vaporizes as it hits the fast-moving spacecraft.  But the gap between Saturn and its rings is comparitively, and unexpectedly, silent.  "The region between the rings and Saturn is 'the big empty,' apparently," Cassini project manager Earl Maize said in a statement. "Cassini will stay the course, while the scientists work on the mystery of why the dust level is much lower than expected." Scientists compared data picked up from Cassini's ring dive and a previous pass through a faint ring of dust and debris on Dec. 18, 2016.  The 2016 data sounds crackly, with a high number of plasma pops heard as Cassini passed through the ring itself.  The data taken by the instrument late last month, however, sounds very different.  Instead of crackly pops, the April data sounds more like static from a TV screen punctuated by a high whistling noise that, according to NASA, is a type of plasma wave that scientists are planning to investigate further. "It was a bit disorienting — we weren't hearing what we expected to hear," Cassini scientist William Kurth said in the statement.  "I've listened to our data from the first dive several times and I can probably count on my hands the number of dust particle impacts I hear." During that first ring dive, the bits of debris Cassini ran into were only about the size of the particles found in smoke, NASA said.  Cassini is now in the last phase of its mission at Saturn.  The spacecraft will continue to make dives through the gap between Saturn and its rings until the planned end of its mission in September, when it will make its death dive into the world's thick atmosphere.  WATCH: Watch clouds move above Saturn's largest moon in new NASA video

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Demonstrations against Venezuela's President Maduro's government in Caracas

Venezuela’s opposition blocked streets in Caracas on Tuesday to denounce a decision by unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro to create a new super-body known as a “constituent assembly,” a move critics say is a veiled attempt to cling to power by avoiding elections.

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Amazon Echo is on sale right now at its lowest price of 2017

The Amazon Echo is the speaker that started it all. In fact, speakers like the Echo have grown so popular now that even Apple seems poised to copy them. Alexa is clearly still the best in the business, but $180 is a tall order for many people. Of course, that's why Amazon went on to release its less expensive Amazon Tap and Echo Dot speakers. They're both terrific products as well, but neither one can match the range or sound quality of the original Echo.

Well guess what: now is your chance to get an Echo speaker at a big discount. While supplies last, Amazon is selling refurbished Amazon Echo speakers for just $134.99, which is the Echo's lowest price of 2017 so far. Remember Amazon's refurbs ship with a warranty, so there's nothing that should be stopping you from jumping on this great deal.

Here are a few highlights from the product page:

A Certified Refurbished Amazon Echo is refurbished, tested, and certified to look and work like new Plays all your music from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and more using just your voice Fills the room with immersive, 360º omni-directional audio Allows hands-free convenience with voice-control Hears you from across the room with far-field voice recognition, even while music is playing Answers questions, reads audiobooks and the news, reports traffic and weather, gives info on local businesses, provides sports scores and schedules, and more with Alexa, a cloud-based voice service Controls lights, switches, and thermostats with compatible WeMo, Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Wink, Insteon, and ecobee smart home devices Always getting smarter and adding new features, plus thousands of skills like Uber, Domino's, and more

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