NASA scientists recently turned new data from telescopes into cosmic music. They transformed activity around several black holes into a beautiful orchestra. The auditory representations, or sonifications, were collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, James Webb Space Telescope, and Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).

The trio of black holes that NASA sonified
The trio of black holes that NASA sonified; Photo: NASA

The agency assigned musical notes to data points to translate space observations into sound, allowing listeners to “hear” the cosmos.

WR 124

The first is potentially he birth of a black hole, NASA says. “WR124 is an extremely bright, short-lived massive star known as a Wolf-Rayet.” In the “sonification” of WR124, the nebula is heard as flutes and the surrounding stars as bells.

NASA translated Chandra’s X-ray sources into harp sounds. Data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was turned into “metallic bell-like sounds.” According to NASA, the light of the central star is mapped to produce a descending scream-like sound.

SS 433

The second piece of the black hole composition comes from SS 433. “SS 433 is a binary, or double, system about 18,000 light-years away that sings out in X-rays.”

X-ray notes coupled with radio and infrared data provided a backdrop for the celestial song. NASA says the nebula in radio waves “resembles a drifting manatee.” Bright background stars were played as the water-drop sounds. The location of the binary system is heard as plucking sounds, which pulse to match the fluctuations.

Centarus A

The third and final galactic song comes from a distant galaxy known as Centaurus A. An “enormous” black hole is at the galaxy’s center. According to NASA, the black hole sends a “booming jet across the entire length of the galaxy.” Sweeping from Chandra’s X-rays in the video above, the scan plays them as single-note wind chimes. X-ray light from IXPE produces wind-like sounds. Visible light data from the European Southern Observatory’s MPG telescope shows the galaxy’s stars are mapped to string instruments.

NASA has put together an impressive “out-of-this-world” orchestra between the three videos.