Southern Ring Nebula Sonification

1,731 views Aug 31, 2022

NASA’s JWST uncovered two views of the Southern Ring Nebula — in near-infrared light (at left) and mid-infrared light (at right) — and each has been adapted to sound. Two stars orbit one another at the center of this planetary nebula. The smaller, fainter red star in the mid-infrared image at right is at the end of its lifetime — it has puffed off layers of gas and dust for thousands of years. Its companion, the brighter, larger star in both images, has stirred up those ejections. Now, listeners can hear the stars and surrounding shells of material in each image clearly. In this sonification, the colors in the images were mapped to pitches of sound — frequencies of light converted directly to frequencies of sound. Near-infrared light is represented by a higher range of frequencies at the beginning of the track. Mid-way through, the notes change, becoming lower overall to reflect that mid-infrared includes longer wavelengths of light.