We have seen images and videos of our Milky Way galaxy captured by telescopes, but now for the first time, NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration) has provided the opportunity to hear the sound of the centre of the Milky Way with a process of Sonification that translates data into sound. 

This sonification project is led by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Center as part of the space agency’s Universe of Learning (UoL) program. It allows space enthusiasts to listen to the centre of the Milky Way (called the Galactic Center) as observed in X-ray, optical, and infrared light.

In the video below, as the cursor moves across the image, sounds represent the position and brightness of the sources.

“The translation begins on the left side of the image and moves to the right, with the sounds representing the position and brightness of the sources. The light of objects located towards the top of the image is heard as higher pitches while the intensity of the light controls the volume.”

“The crescendo happens when we reach the bright region to the lower right of the image. This is where the 4-million-solar-mass supermassive black hole at the centre of the Galaxy, known as Sagittarius A* (A-star), resides, and where the clouds of gas and dust are the brightest,” noted NASA in its official blog post. 

Besides translating the data on Galactic Center into sound, this project has also produced sonified versions of the remains of a supernova called Cassiopeia A, or Cas A, and the “Pillars of Creation” located in Messier 16.