Scientists Turn Star Data Into Reggae

What do stars in outer space sound like? Try listening to the 6-second melody (note: that's a .wav file) that will be used on a track due this fall by the reggae-rock group Echo Movement. The band wanted to create its own space jam, so it asked researchers at Georgia Tech's Sonification Lab to transform NASA data into a musical construction. The scientists entered numerical values assigned to the dimming and brightening of a binary star as another star crossed its path into software that created "sonified musical pitches."

The scientists eliminated some ambient noise, then Echo Movement orchestrated the result into a looped, four-part harmony, reports Space.com. The star data was captured by the high-powered Kepler telescope, which continues to hunt for Earth-like planets. “People have made music with space sounds before, but largely using pulsars and space events that can be recorded in the radio spectrum. We wanted something completely off the chart," explained one of Echo Movement's members. (More Echo Movement stories.)