This artist's
conception shows the binary star system EX Hydrae, which consists of a
normal star (right) and a white dwarf (left, at center of disk). Known
as a cataclysmic variable, EX Hydrae fluctuates in X-ray brightness as
the white dwarf consumes gas from its companion. Credit: Christine Pulliam (CfA). High Resolution Image (jpg) - Low Resolution Image (jpg)
Cambridge, MA - Plato,
the Greek philosopher and mathematician, described music and astronomy
as "sister sciences" that both encompass harmonious motions, whether of
instrument strings or celestial objects. This philosophy of a "Music of
the Spheres" was symbolic. However, modern technology is creating a true
music of the spheres by transforming astronomical data into unique
musical compositions.
Gerhard Sonnert, a research associate at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics, has published a new website that allows listeners to
literally hear the music of the stars. He worked with Wanda Diaz-Merced,
a postdoctoral student at the University of Glasgow whose blindness led
her into the field of sonification (turning astrophysical data into
sound); and with composer Volkmar Studtrucker, who turned the sound into
music.
"I saw the musical notes on Wanda's desk and I got inspired," Sonnert says.
Diaz-Merced lost her sight in her early 20s while studying physics. When
she visited an astronomy lab and heard the hiss of a signal from a
radio telescope, she realized that she might be able to continue doing
the science she loved. She now works with a program called xSonify,
which allows users to present numerical data as sound and use pitch,
volume, or rhythm to distinguish between different data values.
During a visit to the Center for Astrophysics in 2011, Diaz-Merced
worked with data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The target was
EX Hydrae - a binary system consisting of a normal star and a white
dwarf. Known as a cataclysmic variable, it fluctuates in X-ray
brightness as the white dwarf consumes gas from its companion.
Diaz-Merced plugged the Chandra X-ray data into xSonify and converted it
into musical notes. The results sound random, but Sonnert sensed that
they could become something more pleasing to the ear. He contacted
Studtrucker who chose short passages from the sonified notes, perhaps 70
bars in total, and added harmonies in different musical styles. Sound
files that began as atonal compositions transformed into blues jams and
jazz ballads, to name just two examples of the nine songs produced.
The project shows that something as far away and otherworldly as an
X-ray-emitting cataclysmic variable binary star system can be
significant to humans for two distinct reasons - one scientific and one
artistic.
"We're still extracting meaning from data, but in a very different way," explains Sonnert.
You can listen to the results of the project at the Star Songs website.
Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint
collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the
Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research
divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the
universe.
For more information, contact:
David A. Aguilar
Director of Public Affairs
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
617-495-7462
daguilar@cfa.harvard.edu
Christine Pulliam
Public Affairs Specialist
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
617-495-7463
cpulliam@cfa.harvard.edu
