Blazars are galaxies whose central supermassive black hole, weighing millions to billions of times our Sun’s mass, blasts a particle jet almost directly toward us at nearly the speed of light.

This track sonifies a decade of gamma rays from the blazar TXS 0506+056 detected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope between August 2008 and May 2018. The percussive sounds match the energy of the detected gamma rays. Unprecedented flaring activity began in April 2017 and continued for months. On Sept. 22, 2017, an observatory at the South Pole detected a high-energy neutrino thought to have originated from the blazar. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration., Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida/SYSTEM Sounds

Blazar Flare Sonification

This track sonifies the Chandra Deep Field South, the deepest X-ray exposure ever made, comprising over 81 days of observations with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. 

Moving from bottom to top, the colors in the image determine the tones played. More specifically, colors toward the red end of the rainbow rumble as lower tones, while colors containing more purple play as higher ones. White areas in the image are heard as white noise. Almost all of the sources represented in the image are black holes or galaxies. Most of the former are supermassive black holes that reside at the centers of galaxies. The wide range of musical frequencies represents the full range of X-ray colors collected by Chandra from this region. Note that as the piece scans upward, the stereo position of the sounds provides clues about the position of the sources from left to right. 

Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/B.Luo et al.; Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/Kimberly Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (Matt Russo, Andrew Santaguida)

Chandra Deep Field Sonification

The core of our Milky Way galaxy is densely packed with gas, dust, stars and stellar remnants, but its centerpiece is a monster black hole with a mass of 4 million Suns called Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”). This sonification tracks an image of the galactic center captured by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light.

The translation begins on the left side of the image and moves to the right, with sounds representing the positions and brightness of the sources. Objects located toward the top of the image play at higher pitches, while their brightness controls the volume. Spitzer’s view of the galactic center highlights glowing clouds of cool dust containing complex structures. 

Credit: IR: Spitzer NASA/JPL-Caltech; Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/Kimberly Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (Matt Russo, Andrew Santaguida)

Galactic Center Infrared Sonification

The core of our Milky Way galaxy is densely packed with gas, dust, stars and stellar remnants, but its centerpiece is a monster black hole with a mass of 4 million Suns called Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”). This sonification tracks an image of the galactic center captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The translation begins on the left side of the image and moves to the right, with sounds representing the positions and brightness of the sources. Objects located toward the top of the image play as higher pitches, while their brightness determines the volume. X-rays seen by Chandra reveal gas heated to millions of degrees from stellar explosions and outflows from Sagittarius A*. 

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/Kimberly Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (Matt Russo, Andrew Santaguida)

Galactic Center X-ray Sonification

Listen to the rhythms of the pulsating red giant star called Edasich based on brightness measurements from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Just below the surfaces of these stars, hot gas rises, cools, and then sinks, where it heats up again, much like a pan of boiling water on a hot stove. This motion produces waves of changing pressure – sound waves. The interaction of these waves results in orderly motion called standing waves that create measurable changes in the star’s brightness. Larger stars produce longer oscillations and thus have deeper tones. To produce audible tones, astronomers multiplied its oscillation frequency by 3 million times. (Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA), M. Hon et al., 2021)

Red Giant Star Edasich Pulsations

Hear radio emissions collected during the Juno spacecraft’s June 7, 2021, flyby of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/Univ of Iowa

Audio of Juno’s Ganymede Flyby

Courtesty of Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS)aboard NASA’s Van Allen Probes team at the University of Iowa

Chorus Radio Waves within Earth's Atmosphere

Chill Vibes - Version 20

The Voyager 1 spacecraft has experienced three "tsunami waves" in interstellar space. Listen to how these waves cause surrounding ionized matter to ring. More details on this sound can be found here: http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/nasa-voyager-tsunami-wave-still-flies-through-interstellar-space/

Voyager 1: Three "Tsunami Waves" in Interstellar Space

Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K. Arcand, M. Russo & A. Santaguida

Chandra X-ray Observatory: Cassiopeia A, Silicon

Chandra X-ray Observatory: Galactic Sonification

Hello, we’re NASA. You may have seen our astronauts, rocket launches, or Mars rovers — but have you heard our sounds? From interviews with astronauts and engineers to stories that take you on a tour of the galaxy, NASA’s audio offerings let you experience the thrill of space exploration without ever leaving Earth.

Galactic Center Infrared Sonification

NASA

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