Starship Asterisk*

by **bystander** » Wed May 02, 2018 4:03 pm

‘Milky Way Blues’
University of California, Santa Barbara | 2018 May 01

UCSB postdoctoral fellow Greg Salvesen takes data sonification to a new level with his Astronomy Sound of the Month website

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Sonification: Mark Heyer — Visualization: Greg Salvesen — Image: Robert Hurt
Data Credit: Anderson et al. (2011); Kalberla et al. (2005); Dame et al. (2001)
Scientists often transform astronomy data in a way that allows for interpretation with visual plots such as color-coded graphs. UC Santa Barbara postdoctoral fellow Greg Salvesen went in a different direction. He decided to instead map raw data to sound to make the excitement of astronomy — a traditionally visual science — accessible to people with visual impairments.

Salvesen’s recently launched website, Astronomy Sound of the Month or AstroSoM (pronounced “Astro Psalm”), features different sounds produced from actual astronomy data, along with a brief explanation written by an astronomer. ...

For his latest feature, Salvesen collaborated with University of Massachusetts astronomy professor Mark Heyer to produce a piece called “Milky Way Blues” that allows listeners to “hear” how our galaxy rotates. Heyer created the sonification and Salvesen supplied the visualization, incorporating an existing image of our galaxy created by Robert Hurt of IPAC/Caltech. The combined efforts reduce complex data into visual and aural components that track the movement of gas through the galaxy. ...

UMass Amherst Astronomer Composes Galactic Jazz
University of Massachusetts, Amherst | 2018 May 03

by **mattrusso** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 4:14 pm

gustavomoretto@yahoo.com wrote: ↑Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:12 am
bystander wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:45 pm
gustavomoretto@yahoo.com wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:41 pm My favorite web page period.
But hey! Are the different piches proportional to the different brightness of the rings or at are they arbitrarily chosen by the technicians...
Big, big difference!
I'm a musician and I'm dying to knw the answer.

APOD Robot wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:11 am In the featured sonification, increasing brighter regions of Saturn's central B-ring play as increasingly higher pitched notes.

That is not the question I am asking. "higher pitches" means a change in the frequency of vibration. The intervals between all pitches heard in this example correspond to very specific frequency ratios; Octave 1:2, fifth 2:3, fourth 3:4 and so on. The question then is: did the astronomers find that relationship between the different brightness of the rings or did the technician who made the demo assign arbitrary values to the pitches to make them sound more pleasing? Big difference, and if the relationship is actually something else altogether it would be fascinating to hear it as it really is. Perhaps the Universe has something to teach us when it comes to music!

Yes, Chris is right. We've binned the brightnesses of the pixels into 13 steps and mapped them to a chosen set of notes to communicate the relative brightness variations. I've played around with a more continuous version using an oscillator (really 256 steps) and might publish it in the future. There are real examples of musical frequency ratios within the full ring system though, as orbital resonances with some of Saturn's moons. For example, here is the scale played by Janus and Epimetheus: https://youtu.be/SsFZlSQdPWU.

The ultimate example of musical frequency ratios in astronomy is the TRAPPIST-1 system: https://youtu.be/WS5UxLHbUKc and there's an app for that too: http://www.system-sounds.com/trappist-sounds/play/

by **Chris Peterson** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 12:41 pm

gustavomoretto@yahoo.com wrote: ↑Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:12 am
bystander wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:45 pm
gustavomoretto@yahoo.com wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:41 pm My favorite web page period.
But hey! Are the different piches proportional to the different brightness of the rings or at are they arbitrarily chosen by the technicians...
Big, big difference!
I'm a musician and I'm dying to knw the answer.

APOD Robot wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:11 am In the featured sonification, increasing brighter regions of Saturn's central B-ring play as increasingly higher pitched notes.

That is not the question I am asking. "higher pitches" means a change in the frequency of vibration. The intervals between all pitches heard in this example correspond to very specific frequency ratios; Octave 1:2, fifth 2:3, fourth 3:4 and so on. The question then is: did the astronomers find that relationship between the different brightness of the rings or did the technician who made the demo assign arbitrary values to the pitches to make them sound more pleasing? Big difference, and if the relationship is actually something else altogether it would be fascinating to hear it as it really is. Perhaps the Universe has something to teach us when it comes to music!

The ring intensity range is continuous and linear. The algorithm used must bin the brightnesses into widths corresponding to the desired intervals. Otherwise this would sound more like a Theremin than a harp. Here's what the histogram looks like.

by **gustavomoretto@yahoo.com** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:12 am

bystander wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:45 pm
gustavomoretto@yahoo.com wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:41 pm My favorite web page period.
But hey! Are the different piches proportional to the different brightness of the rings or at are they arbitrarily chosen by the technicians...
Big, big difference!
I'm a musician and I'm dying to knw the answer.

APOD Robot wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:11 am In the featured sonification, increasing brighter regions of Saturn's central B-ring play as increasingly higher pitched notes.

That is not the question I am asking. "higher pitches" means a change in the frequency of vibration. The intervals between all pitches heard in this example correspond to very specific frequency ratios; Octave 1:2, fifth 2:3, fourth 3:4 and so on. The question then is: did the astronomers find that relationship between the different brightness of the rings or did the technician who made the demo assign arbitrary values to the pitches to make them sound more pleasing? Big difference, and if the relationship is actually something else altogether it would be fascinating to hear it as it really is. Perhaps the Universe has something to teach us when it comes to music!

by **Ann** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:29 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:19 pm
GoshOGeeOGolly wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:13 pm Also looks like the UPC.
Yes, it does. Although, to be a bit pedantic in the face of a light-hearted observation, barcodes are binary, while the ring image is not. If we were using this system to "play" a barcode, there would only be two tones.

That reminds me of the time when I (very briefly) visited a nunnery and listened to the nuns when they sang during one of their nine or so daily meetings to sing and pray.

That many meetings every day required a large repertoire of songs, and the nuns had solved the problems by setting music to every hymn in Psalms. But the music was of the simplest kind: It was indeed binary. Some syllables in every hymn were underlined, while the other syllables were not. A line below a syllable meant "Sing a higher note", and the lack of a line below a syllable meant "Sing a lower note".

Talk about singing the barcode to the grace of God! I listened with fascination to their music, which sounded so much worse than today's APOD!

Ann

by **mattrusso** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:59 pm

HellCat wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:45 pm Absolutely fantastic. I'm going to start playing much more of Russo's renditions.

For those who can't figure out how to enjoy the spectacle, perhaps THIS link could mollify them...

... for now.

Thank you Professor Russo.

Also, forgot to mention, here is a video of the app in action, enjoy!

by **Guest** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:51 pm

This is a fantastic post. It is very creative.

by **mattrusso** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:49 pm

HellCat wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:45 pm Absolutely fantastic. I'm going to start playing much more of Russo's renditions.

For those who can't figure out how to enjoy the spectacle, perhaps THIS link could mollify them...

... for now.

Thank you Professor Russo.

Thanks HellCat! FYI, for the video you linked we used the notes of the harmonic series instead of the more pleasing major/minor harmony used in the app. Plenty more videos/apps on the way!

by **Chris Peterson** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:19 pm

GoshOGeeOGolly wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:13 pm Also looks like the UPC.

Yes, it does. Although, to be a bit pedantic in the face of a light-hearted observation, barcodes are binary, while the ring image is not. If we were using this system to "play" a barcode, there would only be two tones.

by **GoshOGeeOGolly** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:13 pm

Also looks like the UPC.

by **RJN** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 5:37 pm

It has been pointed out to me that this APOD is now highlighted on Metafilter.
- RJN

by **RJN** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 5:35 pm

At the request of the sonifier, I have now linked Matt Russo to SYSTEM Sounds on the NASA APOD.
- RJN

by **Chris Peterson** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:47 pm

mattrusso wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:41 pm
rstevenson wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:25 pm Works fine for me in a quite stock Safari in Mac OS. Also works on my iPad in Safari, though there's some pops and spits in the sound--almost like old radio! Probably overloading the sound processing chip/software/memory.

Rob
Yes, there does seem to be a processing limitation on high speed for some mobile so definitely try it on a desktop/laptop if possible, thanks!

Runs fine on my phone (Pixel 2), and in a browser on a Raspberry Pi. Not too demanding of resources, I think.

by **HellCat** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:45 pm

Absolutely fantastic. I'm going to start playing much more of Russo's renditions.

For those who can't figure out how to enjoy the spectacle, perhaps THIS link could mollify them...

... for now.

Thank you Professor Russo.

by **mattrusso** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:41 pm

rstevenson wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:25 pm Works fine for me in a quite stock Safari in Mac OS. Also works on my iPad in Safari, though there's some pops and spits in the sound--almost like old radio! Probably overloading the sound processing chip/software/memory.

Rob

Yes, there does seem to be a processing limitation on high speed for some mobile so definitely try it on a desktop/laptop if possible, thanks!

by **mattrusso** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:38 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:56 pm
De58te wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:26 pm Uhm, if you only see the stars and not the rings your Javascript might be disabled. (Javascript is different from Java update) In Chrome click the customize tab at the top right. Click settings. At the bottom click advanced. Privacy, scroll to Control settings. Click, and set Javascript to allowed. It is even easier to set in Internet Explorer, but I have had a new Windows 10 computer for over 2 years, that I forget how to do it. Google search for disabling Javascript.
And there are also lots of plugins that could interfere. I don't block Javascript in general, but I have plugins that disable some scripting, block ads, block tracking. These sometimes interfere with complex HTML5 pages like this one. (I don't have a problem making today's page work, but there have been other APODs that got messed up by my plugins.)

It's one thing for a page developer to ensure that things work properly in recent releases of the most popular browsers. But there's no way to be sure that it will work in all of the thousands of individual environments that people create on their own systems.

Thanks Chris! It does look like JavaScript blocking may be the culprit for some people. We're looking into it but for now I'd recommend trying something other than Internet Explorer.

by **mattrusso** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:30 pm

Case wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 9:53 am The link for Matt Russo has more of these wonderful tunes that link astronomy with music.
The song ‘Return to Earth’ by his band Rvnners is pretty cool, too.

Thanks Case! We post all of our space music at system-sounds.com and you can stay in the loop on twitter @astromattrusso, got an exciting one on Jupiter coming soon!

by **Ann** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:09 pm

Wow! It works fine for me on my stationary computer at home, using my Opera browser.

Very beautiful! It really sounds like "actual" music!

Ann

by **rstevenson** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:25 pm

Works fine for me in a quite stock Safari in Mac OS. Also works on my iPad in Safari, though there's some pops and spits in the sound--almost like old radio! Probably overloading the sound processing chip/software/memory.

Rob

by **sleeshea** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:14 pm

I usually read APOD on my morning coffee break and this one is tremendous. Thanks! Not quite sure how I'm going to stop playing the rings and go back to work, but I guess I'll have to.

(oh, and I'm running Safari on a MacBook Pro - it worked great once but then when I read email and then came back, the sky was filled with stars not rings. I reloaded the page twice and the rings and music came back. I wonder if the word is out that this is so cool and the page is even more popular than usual.)

by **Chris Peterson** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:56 pm

De58te wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:26 pm Uhm, if you only see the stars and not the rings your Javascript might be disabled. (Javascript is different from Java update) In Chrome click the customize tab at the top right. Click settings. At the bottom click advanced. Privacy, scroll to Control settings. Click, and set Javascript to allowed. It is even easier to set in Internet Explorer, but I have had a new Windows 10 computer for over 2 years, that I forget how to do it. Google search for disabling Javascript.

And there are also lots of plugins that could interfere. I don't block Javascript in general, but I have plugins that disable some scripting, block ads, block tracking. These sometimes interfere with complex HTML5 pages like this one. (I don't have a problem making today's page work, but there have been other APODs that got messed up by my plugins.)

It's one thing for a page developer to ensure that things work properly in recent releases of the most popular browsers. But there's no way to be sure that it will work in all of the thousands of individual environments that people create on their own systems.

by **bystander** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:45 pm

gustavomoretto@yahoo.com wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:41 pm My favorite web page period.
But hey! Are the different piches proportional to the different brightness of the rings or at are they arbitrarily chosen by the technicians...
Big, big difference!
I'm a musician and I'm dying to knw the answer.

APOD Robot wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:11 am In the featured sonification, increasing brighter regions of Saturn's central B-ring play as increasingly higher pitched notes.

by **gustavomoretto@yahoo.com** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:41 pm

My favorite web page period.
But hey! Are the different piches proportional to the different brightness of the rings or at are they arbitrarily chosen by the technicians...
Big, big difference!
I'm a musician and I'm dying to knw the answer.

by **De58te** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:26 pm

Uhm, if you only see the stars and not the rings your Javascript might be disabled. (Javascript is different from Java update) In Chrome click the customize tab at the top right. Click settings. At the bottom click advanced. Privacy, scroll to Control settings. Click, and set Javascript to allowed. It is even easier to set in Internet Explorer, but I have had a new Windows 10 computer for over 2 years, that I forget how to do it. Google search for disabling Javascript.

by **Guest** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:35 pm

Not working on Internet Explorer 11.

Starship Asterisk*

APOD: Play Saturn's Rings Like a Harp (2018 Apr 24)

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UCSB: "Astronomy Sound of the Month" Takes Data Sonification to a New Level

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