NASA has previously shared some fascinating sonifications, which take images of space and turn them into auditory experiences — both to allow people who are visually impaired to enjoy the wonders of space, and to provide a new way for everyone to experience space images. Now, the agency has released a new set of sonifications from some historic images taken by the venerable Chandra X-ray Observatory.
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the first light images from Chandra. It may not be as famous as its other space telescope cousins like Hubble and James Webb, but Chandra has been a vital tool in helping astronomers to peer into the universe in the X-ray wavelength. And during its time, it has also produced some beautiful and famous images.
“To mark the anniversary of this milestone, new sonifications of three images — including Cassiopeia A (Cas A) — are being released,” NASA writes. “Sonification is a process that translates astronomical data into sound, similar to how digital data are more routinely turned into images. This translation process preserves the science of the data from its original digital state but provides an alternative pathway to experiencing the data.”
The three new sonifications include images of Cassiopeia A, a cloud of debris that is the remnant of a supernova. At its heart is the remainder of an exploded star, called a neutron star, and the sonifications begin at this central point and move outward, with X-ray data from Chandra represented by piano sounds and infrared data from James Webb and the Spitzer Space Telescope represented by brass and string instruments.
There’s also 30 Doradus, known as the Tarantula Nebula, which is know for its glittering, dreamy landscapes and now has an appropriately sparkling and delicate soundscape. The sculpted shapes in the nebula are the result of shock waves created by winds from massive stars, and red regions in the images are represented by low pitches while white regions have wind sounds and bright stars get synthesizer notes.
And finally there’s the galaxy NGC 6872, a spiral galaxy with two elongated arms reaching out into space. This image is sonified in a clock-like pattern, with sounds sweeping around from a central point, which is the center of the galaxy. Here, the sounds of X-rays are represented as wind-like sounds that correspond to the extremely hot gas that swirls around the galactic center, while star formation in the spiral arms is heard as high-pitched tones.
Previous sonifications have included the sounds of a nebula and a black hole, as well as images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.