Space agency NASA has enthralled millions of people yet again with a mesmerising data sonification of a supermassive black hole. Watch the video here.?
The sonification was shared on Instagram by the Space Agency, who described it as a "one-hit wonder" that may not compete with Beethoven's musical masterpieces but is nonetheless awe-inspiring.?
Sagittarius A*, the featured black hole, is located at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. According to NASA, this "ancient sleeping giant awoke recently, about 200 years ago, to feast on gas and other cosmic material within its reach."
Researchers merged photos of Sagittarius A* with visual information data from the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) and NASA Chandra X-ray Centre (CXC) to generate the sonification, transforming visual data into an audio experience.
In terms of luminosity, Sagittarius A* stands out among black holes at galaxies' centres. Unlike its active brethren, our galaxy's centre black hole has not been devouring its surroundings. Regardless, the ability to turn these visuals into music offers a unique viewpoint on the celestial phenomenon.
While telescopes have always supplied us with breathtaking visuals of space, NASA's CXC has taken it a step further by launching a sonification experiment.?
This cutting-edge technology converts data from astronomical photos into sounds, resulting in an auditory version of data visualisation. NASA's faraway telescopes acquire digital data (ones and zeroes) before converting it into visual images.?
These photos depict various wavelengths of light and radiation in space that are invisible to the naked eye.?
The Chandra project pushes the envelope by converting the same data into sound and employing pitch and volume to express the brightness and position of celestial objects and occurrences.
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