Listen to the sound coming from this merging galaxy pair

Interested in hearing what a colliding pair of galaxies sounds like? NASA has shared the sonification - translation of astronomical image data into sound - of Mice Galaxies, a merging galaxy pair that will eventually merge into a single galaxy.

Known as NGC 4676, the galaxy pair is located about 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is known as "The Mice" because of the long tails of stars and gas emanating from each galaxy. This spectacular galaxy pair was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

In this data sonification, the brightness is represented with volume and pitch - brighter light is louder and lower pitched. The vertical position of objects in the image is used to control the pitch of sustained musical strings, and cymbals swell following the brightness of the galaxy cores. Listen for a cymbal crash played for the foreground star with diffraction spikes, too.

Video Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M. Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA; Sonification: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)

Sonification is a groundbreaking approach that transforms the way we interact with the digital data gathered by telescopes. It not only makes science more inclusive for the blind and visually impaired but also enriches the astronomical experience for all, providing new ways to conceptualize and engage with the cosmos.