Data Sonification: Jupiter, Composite

In late February, people in the northern hemisphere can look up for a special sight: six planets will all be visible from clear and dark night skies. Since the planets in our Solar System travel around the Sun in same plane (known as the ecliptic), they will sometimes appear bunched together on the sky if their orbits find them on the same side of the Sun at the same time. When this happens, it looks like the planets have roughly formed a line from our vantage point on Earth. Original sonifications from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory help commemorate this latest “planet parade”. Jupiter Sonification: The sonification of Jupiter combines X-ray data from Chandra with an infrared image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Woodwind sounds reveal Chandra’s X-ray data including emission from the planet’s auroras. More instruments join in to represent the planet’s complex cloud layers. Next, by combining an optical image from NASA’s Cassini mission with X-rays from Chandra, we can experience Saturn like never before. A siren-like sound follows the arc of the rings and different tones of synthesizers play as the scan passes the planet itself. Finally, we can hear the ice giant of Uranus through the data collected by Chandra and the W.M. Keck Observatory. The data in this sonification reflect the amount of the different light detected from the planet and the orientation of its ring. In this image the amount of diffuse X-rays from a donut-shaped ring of energetic particles around Jupiter, seen on the left and right side of the planet, has been enhanced compared to the amount of X-rays from the planet's auroras, seen at the poles. As the scan moves left to right, it encounters X-rays that bracket the planet on either side and this plays as woodwind sounds. As we pass over the planet itself, as seen in an infrared image from the Hubble Space Telescope, the sounds become fuller as the infrared data as other instruments. Since Jupiter is tilted slightly, the pitch descends as the scan goes over the bright band near the equator and through the Great Red Spot. On the other side, more X-ray data from Chandra flanks the planet and can be heard as almost gusty wind sounds at the end. Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida) More at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2026/sonify11