Sonification of the Bubble Nebula

Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. The majestic spiral galaxy NGC 1300’s arms hold blue clusters of young stars, pink clouds of star formation, and dark lanes of dust. To represent this image with sound, scientists assigned louder volume to brighter light. Light farther from the center is pitched higher as a counterclockwise radar scans across the galaxy. NGC 1300 resides nearly 70 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. Sonification credits: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope and its images, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Related pages

Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. Welcome to one of the most active galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood, NGC 1569. This starburst galaxy creates stars at a rate 100 times faster than in our own galaxy, the Milky Way! Scientists represented information in this Hubble image with sound to create a beautiful sonification with a bottom to top scan. Brighter light is higher pitched and louder. The three color channels used to process this image are each given their own pitch range, with red representing lower pitches, green in medium pitches, and blue in high pitches. Sonification credits: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope and its images, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Related pages

Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. Stretching over 100,000 light-years across, the galaxy dubbed Hoag’s Object is slightly larger than our own home galaxy, the Milky Way. The blue ring is dominated by clusters of young, massive stars, while the yellow nucleus consists of mostly older stars. In this sonification, a clockwise radar scan transforms data in the image into sound. Bright light is represented with louder volume, and light farther from the center is higher-pitched. Sonification credits: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope and its images, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Related pages

Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. This spectacular Hubble image of the Butterfly Nebula shows a colorful view of star death. The "wings" of the butterfly are regions of gas heated to more than 36,000° F (about 20,000° C) that are tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour (966,000 kph)! Vertical position is mapped to pitch – meaning that light towards the top of the image is higher pitched. The nebula is played on strings and synthetic tones, while stars are represented by digital harp. Brightness controls the volume, and the tilted hourglass orientation of the nebula produces an overall rising motion, with the prominent iron-rich jet producing a quick rise near the center.Sonification credits: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope and its images, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Related pages

Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. About 5,000 light-years from Earth, the stunning nebula NGC 2392 formed after the demise of a star like our Sun. In this sonification, the image is scanned clockwise like a radar. The radius is mapped to pitch, so light farther from the center is higher pitched. The outline of the nebula’s shell can be heard in the rising and falling of pitch, punctuated by its spokes. Brightness controls the volume. Sonification credits: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope and its images, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Related pages

Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. This sonification of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (2014) image plays a note for each galaxy when it emitted the light captured in this image. The farther away the galaxy is, the longer its light has traveled before reaching the Hubble Space Telescope. In just under a minute, we can hear back nearly 13 billion years to the farthest galaxies in that photo. The light we receive from those galaxies was emitted when the universe was only a few hundred million years old. Sonification credits: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope and its images, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Related pages

Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. Located 40,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Columba, this globular cluster is called Caldwell 73 or NGC 1851. A globular cluster is a spherical group of stars that are gravitationally bound to each other, with most of the stars concentrated at the cluster’s center. As the radar scans around in this sonification, the radius of the stars is mapped to pitch, so stars farther from the center are higher pitched. The entire image is converted to the sound of a choir, while the orange and red stars are represented by a marimba, and the blue stars are represented by a glockenspiel.Credit: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope and its images, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Related pages

Space becomes “sonified” in this visualization of a cluster of galaxies imaged by Hubble. Time flows left to right, and the frequency of sound changes from bottom to top, ranging from 30 to 1,000 hertz. Objects near the bottom of the image produce lower notes, while those near the top produce higher ones. Most of the visible specks are galaxies housing countless stars. A few individual stars shine brightly in the foreground. Stars and compact galaxies create short, clear tones, while sprawling spiral galaxies emit longer notes that change pitch. The higher density of galaxies near the center of the image — the heart of this galaxy cluster, known as RXC J0142.9+4438 — results in a swell of mid-range tones halfway through the video. Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 acquired this image on Aug. 13, 2018. Read more about it here.Credit: NASA/Hubble/SYSTEM Sounds (Matt Russo, Andrew Santaguida)Complete transcript available. Related pages