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Listen to 5,000 worlds beyond the solar system in Nasa’s latest sonification
Nasa took to Instagram to share the sonification post related to the 5,000 worlds beyond our solar system.
The Instagram pages managed by Nasa are nothing short of treasure troves for those who enjoy the videos and images that give them a peek of the world outside that lies beyond this Blue Planet. If you’re among them, then this latest share by the space agency on one of their Instagram pages will make you very happy. And, this share comes with a melodious twist. It is a sonification that lets you “Listen to 5,000 worlds beyond our solar system. ”
Nasa, besides sharing the sonification, also posted a detailed caption to talk more about the existence of over 5,000 exoplanets. “This week, we announced that we have now confirmed the existence of over 5,000 exoplanets, or planets known to exist outside of our home star system. From small, rocky Earth-sized worlds to gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, we've been looking for more than 30 years to find these exoplanets' subtle signals: the dimming of a distant star as a planet passes in front of it, or a small shift in the star's movement from its planet's gravity,” they wrote.
In the next few lines they added more about the way through which they were able to make the discovery. “With new telescopes like @NASAWebb and cutting-edge technology, we're discovering more worlds than ever—and even starting to capture direct images. We're learning that there are likely hundreds of billions of planets across the Milky Way!” they added.
Then the space agency added two more paras to talk about the wonderful sonification they shared. “This video is a sonification of all 5,005 confirmed exoplanets, turning their discovery over time into music-like sound. As each exoplanet is discovered, a circle appears at its position in the sky. The size of the circle indicates the relative size of the planet's orbit and the color indicates which planet detection method was used to discover it: pink corresponds to radial velocity, purple to planetary transit, green to microlensing, red to timing variations, yellow to orbital brightness modulation, gray to astrometry, and blue to disk kinematics,” they posted.
“The music is created by playing a note for each newly discovered world. The pitch of the note indicates the relative orbital period of the planet. Planets that take a longer time to orbit their stars are heard as lower notes, while planets that orbit more quickly are heard as higher notes,” they wrote and concluded the post.
Take a look at the musical wonder:
The post has been shared about five hours ago. Since being posted, the clip has accumulated more than 4.7 lakh views and the numbers are quickly increasing. The share has also prompted people to post various comments.
“Stunningly beautiful,” wrote an Instagram user. “How beautiful,” posted another. “Wow,” commented a third. “That is so amazing… it sounds so calming,” expressed a fourth. Many also wrote just “Amazing” to showcase their reactions.
What are your thoughts on the sonification posted by Nasa?
