Science.-NASA translates the miniatures of its telescopes into sound

Madrid, 1 (Europa Press)

NASA has translated data collected by the Chandra X-ray laboratory and new iconic images obtained from space travel, such as the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes.

First, an image of the cluster of bullets, which provided the first direct source of dark matter, the mysterious invisible object that makes up the vast majority of objects in the universe. Lunar X-rays (pink) show that hot gas from two merging galaxies is removed from a dark object by a process known as “gravitational lensing” in Hubble data (blue) and ground-based telescopes.

By converting this to sound, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7STY_H0BEk&feature=emb_title) the data is scrolled from left to right and each data level is limited to a specific frequency range. Data showing dark matter is represented by very low frequencies, while X-rays are combined with high frequencies. The galaxies in the image revealed by the Hubble data, many of which are in the cluster, have intermediate frequencies. Then, within each layer, the hue is set to increase from the bottom of the image to the top, so that the objects above create more tones, NASA reports.

The Crab Nebula, the second example, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtymxN67eEE&feature=emb_title) has been studied by humans since its first appearance in the terrestrial sky in telescopes in 1054 AD they captured the their durable machine powered by a rapidly spinning neutron star that forms when a large star collapses. The combination of rapid rotation and a strong magnetic field creates jets of matter and antimatter that flow from its poles and blow outward from its equator.

To translate this data into sound, it flows from left to right, with each wavelength of light connected to several familiar instruments. Chandra’s X-rays (blue and white) have rhythmic sounds, Hubble’s optical light data string (purple), and Spitzer’s infrared data (pink) can be heard as wind instruments. In any case, the light obtained in the upper part of the image is reproduced as high notes and the intense light is reproduced vividly.

Third example: On February 24, 1987, observers in the southern hemisphere detected a new object in the Milky Way’s Large Magellanic Cloud. It was one of the brightest supernova eruptions of centuries, soon known as Supernova 1987A (SN 87A). This time interval shows the observations of Chandra (blue) and Hubble (orange and red) taken between 1999 and 2013: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7rMtVctvag&feature=emb_title).

This shows a dense ring of gas ejected from the star before making its way to the supernova, which begins to glow even more as the supernova shock wave passes. As the focus shifts to the image, the data becomes the sound of a crystal Tibetan bell and the bright light becomes stronger. The optical data is converted to a higher reference range than the X-ray data, so both wavelengths of light are heard at the same time. An interactive version allows the user to automatically run this astronomical instrument.

The Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) is leading the data synchronization program as part of NASA’s Universe of Learning (UOL) program.