Listen to the sounds coming from this interacting galaxy pair

Ever wondered what the music of two colliding galaxies would sound like? Through data sonification, NASA scientists have converted digital data of an interacting pair gathered by Hubble into sound.

This data sonification of Arp 140 shows a pair of interacting galaxies - a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 275 on the left and a lenticular galaxy called NGC 274 on the right side.

Arp 140 lies in the constellation Cetus.

Credit: NASA/ESA/R. Foley (University of California - Santa Cruz)/Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)/ Sonification: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)

Barred spiral galaxies, as visible in the stunning image of NGC 275, showcase a distinctive structure characterized by a central bar of stars piercing through the galactic bulge. This bar is depicted as a bright-white, vertical haze, creating a visually captivating spectacle.

Lenticular galaxies earn their name from their disk-like appearance when viewed edge-on. They boast large central bulges and flattened disk-like spirals, but no spiral arms. They don't have much gas and dust and are made up primarily of old stars.

Scientists transformed the data from the Hubble image into sound, associating pitch with color across the entire image (with bluer light corresponding to higher pitches and redder light to lower pitches). The pitch is mapped to the brightness of individual stars and background galaxies, determined by their apparent size - larger objects emitting lower tones, while smaller ones producing higher pitches.