Credit: X-ray: purple; Infrared (Herschel, Spitzer, WISE): blue; Infrared (JWST): red, green, blue;
Swan Song of a Dying Star
Astronomy has historically been a visual science. Our knowledge of the cosmos comes in large part from images of the sky and the mysterious objects it contains. Light from these objects, broken into component colors, produces spectra which provide even more information: how hot an object is, how fast its moving, whether it's coming towards us or moving away from us, the object's chemical composition. Our other senses have been little used in plumbing the depths of the Universe. Yet the acoustics of the Universe provide unique information, from the basso profundo screams of a monster black hole, or the subtle chirps of merging black holes as they shake the Universe. In a process known as sonfication, scientists convert images into sound. This allows listeners to audibly detect spatial variations in astronomical images, with the significant benefit of including the visually impaired in the wonders of astronomical discovery. The image above shows a dying, massive star called WR 124, surrounded by a large cloud of ejecta about 20 light-years across. The image is a composite of infrared images from JWST, the Herschel space telescope, WISE and the Spitzer Space Telescope, and an X-ray image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory in purple. The image has been converted into a symphony of sound. The piece starts from WR 124 (the bright spot at the center of the image) and proceeds radially outward past clumps in the nebula and past nearby stars. Brighter objects are louder, and different wavelengths of light are played in different audible frequencies and by different instruments. You can play the resulting cosmic opus for yourself, and marvel at the sights and sounds of our extraordinary Universe.
Published: May 12, 2025
<
HEA Dictionary ● Archive
● Search HEAPOW
● Other Languages
● HEAPOW on Facebook
● Download all Images
● Education ● HEAD
>
Each week the HEASARC
brings you new, exciting and beautiful images from X-ray and Gamma ray
astronomy. Check back each week and be sure to check out the HEAPOW archive!
Page Author: Dr. Michael F. Corcoran
Last modified Monday, 19-May-2025 11:55:57 EDT