A new sonification turns X-ray data of “light echoes” captured by NASA’s Chandra and Swift X-ray observatories into sound. The light echoes are around V404 Cygni, a binary system where a stellar-mass black hole is in orbit with a “normal” star. Periodically, material around the black hole will generate outbursts in light that propagate outward into space. These data help astronomers learn about the distribution of dust and gas clouds between V404 Cygni and Earth.
Illustration showing how the rings seen by Chandra were produced
About the sound:
This is an inside-out scan of the light echo rings formed by dust scattering and the background stars.
Dust scattering rings
The sound is generated by a series of tick-like sounds. The volume and density of ticks is controlled by the ring brightness.
Listening to the pattern of rings in this way traces the density of dust clouds that the light has scattered off of on its way towards Earth.
The sound generated by the Swift X-ray data is represented as lower frequencies.
The Chandra X-ray data represents higher frequency light and its corresponding sound is limited to higher frequencies.
Background stars (DSS Optical data)
Each visible light star triggers a musical note. The volume and pitch of the note are determined by the brightness of the star. Brighter stars are louder and higher pitched.
To explore more about astronomical data and this sound, please visit this site.
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