We witnessed the magic of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope when it released its first full-color images. But have you ever wondered what these photos sound like?
Luckily for us, Webb's breathtaking photos may now be experienced in an immersive way through music!
We can now listen to the wondrous landscape of The Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, the contrasting sounds of two different images of the Southern Ring Nebula, and the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b.
With assistance from the Webb project and NASA's Universe of Learning, a group of scientists, musicians, and a member of the blind and visually challenged community collaborated to transform the photos into sounds.
The Harmonious Soundscape of Carina Nebula
JWST's near-infrared image of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula has been converted into a musical composition. The semi-transparent, gauzy parts and extremely dense regions of gas and dust in the nebula were each given a specific note by the musicians, resulting in a buzzing soundscape.
The image is scanned by the sonification from left to right. The music is loud and rich, capturing every nuance of this enormous, gaseous void that resembles a mountain range, according to NASA.
Blue hues and windy, drone-like sounds depict the gas and dust in the top part of the image. The composition is clearer and more melodic in the bottom half of the image, which is depicted in flaming orange and red tones.
The Harrowing Tones of the Southern Ring Nebula
Two of the images of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light (at left) and mid-infrared light (at right) have been converted to audio as well.
In this sonification, the colors in the photos were changed directly from light frequencies to sound frequencies by mapping them to pitches of sound. A higher range of frequencies at the start of the track corresponds to near-infrared light.
NASA noted that the notes change halfway through and become overall lower to reflect that the mid-infrared section of the spectrum contains longer wavelengths of light.
WASP-96 b's Water Signatures
The atmospheric properties of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b, which has a clear water signature, were studied by JWST, and the transmission spectrum's individual data points were converted into sound.
The sonification moves from left to right across the spectrum. The y-axis runs from less to more light blocked from bottom to top.
The x-axis ranges from 0.6 microns to 2.8 microns on the left and right, respectively. Each data point has a pitch that matches the frequency of light it represents.
Longer light wavelengths have lower frequencies, which are audible as lower pitches. Each data point's volume reveals how much light was actually detected there.
The sound of falling water droplets is a representation of the four water signatures. NASA explained that these sounds simplify the data since water is identified as a signature with a number of data points. Only the data's highest points are aligned with the sounds.
Related Article: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Captures First Clear Evidence of Carbon Dioxide in an Exoplanet's Atmosphere
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
