NASA turns light data from distant galaxies into sound

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced they turned light data from some of their high-powered deep-space telescopes into sound.

NASA took to social media sharing a video with images of galaxy clusters as a sonar-style wave plays the sounds of celestial bodies both near and far.

The administration said the volume of the celestial symphony changes in proportion to the brightness of images captured in NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The distance from the center of the snapshot also dictates the musical pitch, with higher frequencies coming from galaxies farther out and lower frequencies from the central bodies, NASA said.

Officials said the “deep thuds” towards the four corners of the image are “diffraction spikes,” artifacts from the bright central star.

For more information on deep space observation, visit the National Aeronautics and Space Administration webpage.