Explore - From Space to Sound

Ever wondered what the music of the spheres would sound like? Hubble brings us cosmic sights, but these astronomical marvels can be experienced with other senses as well. Through data sonification, the same digital data that gets translated into images is transformed into sound.

Elements of the image, like brightness and position, are assigned pitches and volumes. Each translation below begins on the left side of the image and moves to the right. No sound can travel in space, but sonifications provide a new way of experiencing and conceptualizing data. Sonifications allow the audience, including blind and visually impaired communities, to “listen” to astronomical images and explore their data.

Below are sonifications recently published by NASA:

• Here is the sonification of Hoag's Object: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xo3HajfkrKQ

• Sonification of the Bubble Nebula: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buCP1UtT9I0

• The majestic spiral galaxy NGC 1300’s arms hold blue clusters of young stars, pink clouds of star formation, and dark lanes of dust sonification: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyf1UDm-GyU

• Data Sonification: Black Hole at the Center of Galaxy M87: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVleUUmU44E

• Sounds from Around the Milky Way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N9RnmwIWbA

• Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) Sonification: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfFoUWm3NDA

Sit back and enjoy!