Video: NASA shares sonification of gigantic galaxy cluster Abell 370, astrophiles stunned

On November 17, NASA shared a stunning sonification of the galaxy cluster Abell 370 located about 4 billion light-years from Earth. Taking to its official Instagram handle, NASA wrote that the home to hundreds of galaxies constituted so much mass that it “actually wraps the space around it.” NASA informed that it conceptualized the information in the image captured by Hubble and created the sound from the astronomical marvel. Sonification is the process of translation of the digital data on the images into sound by using the brightness and bending of light to assign the pitches and volumes. 

According to NASA, Abell 370 comprises several hundred galaxies that are embedded within the core of the galaxy cluster. As a result, the mass of the galaxies distorts space, and magnifies and bends the light that is reflected from the distant background galaxies due to "gravitational lensing”. In the sonification of Abell 370, a complex network of sound waves was created from the myriad of the cosmic objects located within the galaxy’s cluster. “Brighter light is converted into louder sound, and the frequency increases from the bottom to the top of the image,” NASA informed in a release. 

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Sound similar to song

The magnificent sonification of Abell 370 left the astrophile mesmerized as many describe the sound similar to a song. The Objects near the bottom of the Hubble’s image produce lower notes, while the brightest light near the top produces higher symphonies across left to right. At places where the stars shone brightly and there were compact galaxies, clear tones were produced, while the sprawling spiral galaxies produced the higher pitch. “Galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the Universe held together by gravity. In addition to the individual galaxies, they contain vast amounts of multimillion-degree gas that emits X-rays, and dark matter that supplies most of the gravity of the cluster, yet does not produce any light,” NASA explained about Abell 370. 

[This is a J band image of the galaxy cluster Abell 370 obtained in 'jitter' mode, showing the famous gravitational arc just below the centre. Credit: ESO]

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