Phantom Galaxy Data Sonification | NASA Chandra, Hubble & Webb

Phantom Galaxy Data Sonification | NASA Chandra, Hubble & Webb

Messier 74, also known as the Phantom Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way. It  is seen face-on from Earth’s vantage point and is around 32 million light-years away. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple) have been combined with an infrared view of M74 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (green, yellow, red, and magenta) as well as optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (orange, cyan, and blue). 

In sonifying these data, a clockwise-moving radar-like scan starts around 12 o’clock. The distance from the center controls the frequencies of sound with light farther from the center being higher pitched. The Chandra sources correspond to relatively high musical pitches of glassy ethereal and clear plucked sounds. In the Webb data, large, medium, and small features are represented by low, medium, and high frequency ranges of pitches respectively with the brightest stars being heard as percussive sounds. The Hubble data have been turned into breathy synthesizer sounds along with thin metallic plucked sounds for bright stars and clusters.

Scientists combine data from telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum to truly understand astronomical objects. In this way, data from Chandra, Hubble, and Webb compliment each other to provide a comprehensive view of the spectacular M74 galaxy.

Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar, N. Bartmann

Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)

Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: Feb. 28, 2024

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