Scientists and musicians have created sonifications of images and data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA
New leads combine science and art, enhancing experiences for blind and visually impaired communities
A team of experts, including scientists and musicians, have created a new way to explore images and data from[{” attribute=””>NASA’s 
Using sound to explore some of the first full-color infrared images and data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA
NASA Webb’s First Full-Color Images, Data Are Set to Sound
NASA offers a unique, immersive way to explore some of the first full-color infrared images and data from the James Webb Space Telescope – through sound. Listeners can enter the intricate soundscape of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, explore the contrasting tones of two images that depict the Southern Ring Nebula, and identify the individual data points in a transmission spectrum of WASP-96 b, a hot gas giant exoplanet.
“Music taps into our emotional centers,” said Matt Russo, a musician and physics professor at the University of Toronto. “Our goal is to make Webb’s images and data understandable through sound – helping listeners create their own mental images.”
A team of scientists, musicians, and a member of the blind and visually impaired community worked to adapt Webb’s data, with support from the Webb mission and NASA’s Universe of Learning.
Webb’s Cosmic Cliffs Sonification
Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI; Accessibility production: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI and Kimberly Arcand (CXC/SAO), Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida (SYSTEM Sounds), Quyen Hart (STScI), Claire Blome (STScI) and Christine Malec (consultant).
Experts have mapped a near-infrared image of the cosmic cliffs of the Carina Nebula, captured by NASA’s Webb Telescope, to a symphony of sound. The musicians assigned unique notes to semi-transparent, vaporous regions and very dense areas of gas and dust within the nebula, resulting in a buzzing soundscape.
The sonification scans the image from left to right. Vibrant and full, the soundtrack represents the detail of this gigantic gas cavity that looks like a mountain range. Gas and dust in the upper half of the image are depicted in blue hues and drone-like windy sounds. The lower half of the image, depicted in reddish tones of orange and red, has a lighter, more melodic composition.
Brighter light in the picture translates to louder sound. The vertical position of the light also dictates the frequency of the sound. For example, a bright light near the top of the image sounds loud and sharp, but a bright light near the middle is loud and more low-pitched. Darker, dust-obscured areas that appear lower in the image are represented by lower frequencies and brighter, undistorted notes.
Sonification of the South Webb Ring Nebula
Credit: NASA, ESA, ASC and STScI; Accessibility production: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI and Kimberly Arcand (CXC/SAO), Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida (SYSTEM Sounds), Quyen Hart (STScI), Claire Blome (STScI) and Christine Malec (consultant).
NASA’s Webb Telescope has discovered two views of the South Ring Nebula and each has been adapted to sound. The one on the left (NIRCam) is in near infrared light and the one on the right (MIRI) is in mid infrared light.
In this sonification, the colors of the images have been mapped to pitches of sound – frequencies of light translated directly into frequencies of sound. Near infrared light is represented by a higher frequency range at the start of the track. Halfway through, the notes change, becoming lower overall to reflect that mid-infrared includes longer wavelengths of light.
Listen carefully at 15 seconds and 44 seconds. These notes align with the centers of the near and mid-infrared images, where the stars in the center of the “action” appear. In the near-infrared image that begins the trail, a single star is clearly heard, with louder noise. In the second half of the track, listeners will hear a low note just before a higher note, indicating that two stars have been detected in the mid-infrared. The bottom note represents the reddest star that created this nebula, and the second is the star that appears brighter and larger.
Webb’s sonification of exoplanet WASP-96 b
Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI; Accessibility production: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI and Kimberly Arcand (CXC/SAO), Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida (SYSTEM Sounds), Quyen Hart (STScI), Claire Blome (STScI) and Christine Malec (consultant).
NASA’s Webb Telescope observed the atmospheric features of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b – which contains clear water signatures. The individual data points of the resulting transmission spectrum were translated into sound.
The sonification sweeps the spectrum from left to right. From bottom to top, the y-axis goes from less to more blocked light. The abscissa axis goes from 0.6 microns on the left to 2.8 microns on the right. The heights of each data point correspond to the frequencies of the light that each point represents. Longer wavelengths of light have lower frequencies and are heard as lower tones. The volume indicates the amount of light detected in each data point.
The sound of falling water droplets is used to represent the four signatures of water. These sounds simplify the data – water is detected as a signature that has multiple data points. Sounds only align to the highest points in the data.
Mapping data to sound
While these audio tracks support blind and visually impaired listeners in the first place, they are designed to be captivating for everyone who tunes in. “These compositions offer a different way to uncover the detailed information in Webb’s early data. Similar to how written descriptions are unique translations of visual images, sonifications also translate visual images by encoding information, such as color, brightness, location of stars, or energy absorption signatures. water, as sounds,” said Quyen Hart, senior education and outreach scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. “Our teams are committed to making astronomy accessible to everyone.”
“An important discovery was made by sighted people. They reported that the experience helped them understand how people who are blind or partially sighted access information differently.”
This project has parallels with the “sidewalk effect”, an accessibility requirement that supports a wide range of pedestrians. “When the edges are cut, they primarily benefit people who use wheelchairs, but also people who walk with canes and parents who push strollers,” explained Kimberly Arcand, visualization scientist at Chandra X- ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which led the original data sonification project for NASA and is now working on it on behalf of NASA’s Learning Universe. “We hope these sonifications will reach an equally wide audience.”
Preliminary results from a survey conducted by Arcand showed that blind or partially sighted people and sighted people all said they learned something about astronomical images by listening. Participants also shared that auditory experiences resonated deeply with them. “Reactions from respondents varied — from wonder to nervousness,” Arcand continued. “An important discovery was made by sighted people. They reported that the experience helped them understand how people who are blind or partially sighted access information differently.”
It should be noted that these tracks are not real sounds recorded in space. Instead, Russo and his collaborator, musician Andrew Santaguida, mapped Webb’s data to the sound, carefully composing the music to accurately represent the details the team would like listeners to focus on. In a way, these sonifications can be thought of as modern dance or abstract painting – they convert Webb’s images and data into a new medium to engage and inspire listeners.
Christine Malec, a member of the blind and visually impaired community who also supports this project, said she experiments with audio tracks with multiple senses. “When I first heard sonification, it hit me in a visceral, emotional way that I imagine sighted people feel when looking up at the night sky.”
There are other profound benefits to these adaptations. “I want to understand every nuance of sound and every choice of instrument, because that’s mostly how I feel about the image or the data,” Malec continued. Overall, the team hopes the sonifications of Webb’s data will help more listeners feel a stronger connection with the universe — and inspire everyone to follow the observatory’s upcoming astronomical discoveries.
As the world’s first space science observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope will solve the mysteries of our solar system, look beyond distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. this one. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
These sonifications are the result of a collaboration between the James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Universe of Learning program. The Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) leads data sonification as NASA’s Universe of Learning Partner. Scientific experts affiliated with the Webb mission provide expertise on Webb observations, data and targets.
The NASA Learning Universe is part of the NASA Science Enablement Program, from the Science Mission Directorate to NASA Headquarters. The Science Activation Program connects NASA science experts, real-world content and experiences, and community leaders in a way that activates minds and fosters a deeper understanding of our world and beyond. Using its direct connection to the science and the experts behind the science, NASA’s Learning Universe provides resources and experiences that empower youth, families and lifelong learners to explore fundamental questions in science, discover how science is done and discover the universe for themselves. .
NASA Universe of Learning hardware is based on work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement number NNX16AC65A with the Space Telescope Science Institute, in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.