Although technology does not allow humans to stray too far out beyond the confines of Earth’s gravity, telescopes like NASA’s Hubble and Chandra can peer into the far corners of the Milky Way. The telescopes can observe the Universe in various wavelengths of light, including those invisible to the naked eye. And although the images these telescopes produce are breathtaking, what would it be like to explore space using our ears?
Astronomers behind the Chandra X-ray Observatory have answered this question by turning digital and visual cues into an audible signal.
Chandra is NASA’s flagship X-ray telescope and is one of the four Great Observatories alongside Hubble, Spitzer and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
Using a process known as sonification, Chandra astronomers at Harvard University have translated images into sound.
The process starts on the left side of the image and moves to the right.
The different sounds you hear represent the position and brightness of the various objects in the Milky Way’s galactic centre.
Light from the objects at the upper part of the image is at a higher pitch.
Their volume is also controlled by how intense their light is.
The Chandra astronomers said: “Stars and compact sources are converted to individual notes while extended clouds of gas and dust produce an evolving drone.
“The crescendo happens when we reach the bright region to the lower right of the image.”
This region is where the monstrous black hole at the heart of our galaxy resides.
This supermassive black hole has been dubbed Sagittarius A* (read: A-star) and it is estimated to weigh four million times as much as our Sun.
Sagittarius A* is located approximately 26,000 light-years from Earth.
Chandra’s astronomers have also put together audio visualisations for the striking Pillars of Creation and the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A.
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The astronomers said: “In Cas A, the sounds are mapped to four elements found in the debris from the exploded star as well as other high-energy data.
“The distribution of silicon (red), sulfur (yellow), calcium (green), and iron (purple) are revealed moving outward from the centre of the remnant, starting from the location of the neutron star, in four different directions, with intensity again controlling the volume.”
In the Pillars of Creation video, as the soundwave moves from the left to the right, they are generated from visible and X-ray light.
The astronomers said: “As with the sonification of the Galactic Center, the vertical position of the recorded light controls the pitch, but in this case, it varies over a continuous range of pitches.
“Particular attention is paid to the structure of the pillars which can be heard as sweeps from low to high pitches and back.”
The sonification project was led by NASA’s Universe of Learning (UoL) programme.
The astronomers said: “Sound plays a valuable role in our understanding of the world and cosmos around us.
“Explore how scientists are using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other instruments around the world and in space to study the cosmos through sound at the Universe of Sound website.”
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