What if, instead of seeing the universe as an explosion of light, we could hear it? That's where Kimberly Arcand, a visualization scientist and emerging tech lead for NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, comes in. She's part of NASA's Sonification Project, an effort to turn data gathered from the universe into sounds, in part as a way to allow visually impaired people to experience the depths of our galaxy.
"With excellent math," says Arcand, explaining their work on the high-pressure interplay between a supermassive black hole and the hot gas surrounding it, "you can figure out that [the pressure is] essentially a B-flat, about 57 octaves below middle C."
The result of their research: a new album, titled Universal Harmonies, with a beauty all its own. It's out March 10.
To hear this conversation and samples from the album, use the audio player at the top of this page.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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