NASA puts the sounds of the universe into a new album

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Computer-simulated image of a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute hide caption

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NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute

Computer-simulated image of a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy.

NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute

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.