What to listen to this picture? Then read this post... (ESA/Hubble/NASA/Relics)
Deep space is dotted and lit with the most explosive and brilliant objects in all of creation... but it's also cold, dark, and, above all, quiet.
Space is silent because sound needs an atmosphere to interact with in order to create something we can hear. All that interstellar vacuum leaves us with is a whole lot of nothing in the audio department.
But hey, what if stars and galaxies did make sounds? It's something that scientists and audio geeks alike love to ponder. And it sometimes can lead to stuff like this, a collection of the sounds that certain electromagnetic space phenomenon would make if converted into radio waves. (Feel free to revisit that right now, it's some really cool stuff.)
Anyway, that's not what this latest NASA video is. This stuff is actually even weirder.
Hear what you see
For this so-called 'sonification' of deep space, NASA assigned sounds to all of the objects captured in a Hubble telescope image. Each sound was based on the distance and brightness of the object it represented. How did it all end up sounding?
We're glad you asked! Check it out below...
You'll note that as the video plays, a line travels across the deep space image. You can see it vibrate as it hits certain objects. The larger and more clustered objects really set it off. Bwoomm! Some sounds are bright and cheery, but—especially if you're listening on headphones—you can also hear some really deep tones, too.
Watch it again and see if you can pick out which object is making each sound—it's fun to try and make those connections! And what scientific value does this have exactly? Uhhhh... we're not really sure. It's more just really cool sounding stuff, which is reason enough in our opinion.
Space symphonies! We love it!
