RESEARCH

Related Pages

  • A Tour of Data Sonification: Sounds from Around the Milky Way
    “The center of our Milky Way galaxy is too distant for us to visit in person, but we can still explore it. Telescopes gives us a chance to see what the Galactic Center looks like in different types of light. By translating the inherently digital data captured by telescopes in space into images, astronomers create visual representations that would otherwise be invisible to us. But what about experiencing these images with other senses like hearing? Sonification is the process that translates data into sound, and a new project brings the center of the Milky Way to listeners for the first time. As the bar moves from left to right across the image, the sounds represent the position and brightness of the sources detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope. The light of objects located towards the top of the image are heard as higher pitches while the intensity of the light controls the volume. Each type of light reveals different phenomena in this region, which is roughly 400 light years across at a distance of about 26,000 light years from Earth. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Galaxy, called Sagittarius A*, resides in the bright region to the lower right of the image.” - Chandra X-ray Observatory
  • Article: 4,000 Comet Discovered by ESA & NASA Solar Observatory
    "On June 15, 2020, a citizen scientist spotted a never-before-seen comet in data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO — the 4,000th comet discovery in the spacecraft’s 25-year history."
  • Article: Anyone Out There? METI Scientists Message Alien World
    Earth is sending a calling card to the cosmos—a series of radio signals to start an interstellar conversation with an alien civilization.
  • Article: Art & Culture- Turbulence in The Starry Night
    "Researchers analyzing Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night show that its swirling structures have turbulent properties matching those observed in the molecular clouds that give birth to stars."
  • Article: Could Future Homes on the Moon and Mars Be Made of Fungi?
    "Science fiction often imagines our future on Mars and other planets as run by machines, with metallic cities and flying cars rising above dunes of red sand. But the reality may be even stranger – and "greener." Instead of habitats made of metal and glass, NASA is exploring technologies that could grow structures out of fungi to become our future homes in the stars, and perhaps lead to more sustainable ways of living on Earth as well."
  • Article: The Fluid Dynamics of "The Starry Night"- How Vincent Van Gogh's Masterpiece Explains the Scientific Mysteries of Movement and Light
    “In a period of intense suffering, Van Gogh was somehow able to perceive and represent one of the most supremely difficult concepts nature has ever brought before mankind.”
  • How Feynman Diagrams Revolutionized Physics
    “In the late 1940s, Richard Feynman invented a visual tool for simplifying particle calculations that forever changed theoretical physics.”
  • Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science: Dr. Leroy Little Bear Talk
    Indigenous academic Leroy Little Bear compares the foundational base of Blackfoot knowledge to quantum physics to an attentive audience at The Banff Centre as part of the Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science: Contrasts and Similarities event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJSJ28eEUjI
  • Integral: Fifteen years in orbit
    "This video shows how the orbit of ESA’s INTEGRAL spacecraft has evolved, since launch on 17 October 2002, from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, to October 2017. INTEGRAL (from INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) observes the ever-changing, powerful, and violent cosmos. It is the first space observatory that can simultaneously observe objects in gamma rays, X-rays, and visible light."
  • NASA Listens in as Electrons Whistle While They Work
    "Space is not empty, nor is it silent. While technically a vacuum, space nonetheless contains energetic charged particles, governed by magnetic and electric fields, and it behaves unlike anything we experience on Earth. In regions laced with magnetic fields, such as the space environment surrounding our planet, particles are continually tossed to and fro by the motion of various electromagnetic waves known as plasma waves. These plasma waves, like the roaring ocean surf, create a rhythmic cacophony that — with the right tools — we can hear across space."
  • Resource: Astronomer's Toolbox
    How do we know what we know? Check out this NASA resourse to help explore the questions of our universe including topics of light, the electromagnetic spectrum, and other messengers from space like gravitational waves and cosmic rays.
  • Resource: DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made In Space
    "NASA-funded researchers have evidence that some building blocks of DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for life, found in meteorites were likely created in space. The research gives support to the theory that a "kit" of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by meteorite and comet impacts assisted the origin of life."
  • Resource: European Space Agency
    "The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world."
  • Resource: NASA Visualization Studio
    "Explore the latest visualizations of NASA's Earth Observing satellites and the data they collect. NASA researchers are constantly tracking remote-sensing data and modeling processes to better understand our home planet."
  • Rick Hill: What is Indigenous knowledge?
    “Rick Hill (Tuscarora) is an artist, writer and curator who lives at the Six Nations Community of the Grand River Territory in Ontario, Canada. Over the years, Rick has served as the Manager of the Indian Art Centre, Ottawa, Ontario; Director of the Indian Museum at the Institute of American Arts in Santa Fe, NM; and the Assistant Director for Public Programs at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; and Manager of the Haudenosaunee Resource Center. Currently he is the Coordinator for the Joint Stewardship Board at Six Nations to develop an environmental interpretation centre and is the manager of the Six Nations Virtual Archives Project.”
  • The Sound of Space (Use Your Headphones)
    “In space, electromagnetic vibrations exist and can be mapped as sound. These electromagnetic vibrations pulsate in different wavelengths and can be recorded by sepcial equipment in NASA's spacecrafts. The recordings are then translated into sounds that our ears could hear.”
  • The Standard Model
    The theories and discoveries of thousands of physicists since the 1930s have resulted in a remarkable insight into the fundamental structure of matter: everything in the universe is found to be made from a few basic building blocks called fundamental particles, governed by four fundamental forces. Our best understanding of how these particles and three of the forces are related to each other is encapsulated in the Standard Model of particle physics. Developed in the early 1970s, it has successfully explained almost all experimental results and precisely predicted a wide variety of phenomena. Over time and through many experiments, the Standard Model has become established as a well-tested physics theory.
  • This Blind Astrophysicist 'Sees' the Universe in the Most Amazing Way
    "Wanda Diaz-Merced studies the universe through sound. After losing her eyesight in early adulthood, she found a way to continue her work as an astrophysicist by converting scientific data into sound."
  • Video: Dakota Star Knowledge-"We Come From the Stars"
    "An animation I created for We Are Water MN. It is narrated by Jim Rock, UMD Alworth Planetarium Program Director and Dakota Astronomer as he shares his traditional knowledge of the connections with sky and earth. He also speaks of the burial mounds and sacred Wakan Tipi cave in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which speak to our celestial origins."- Marlena Myles
  • Video: The Unexpected Math Behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night"
    "Physicist Werner Heisenberg said, 'When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first.' As difficult as turbulence is to understand mathematically, we can use art to depict the way it looks. Natalya St. Clair illustrates how Van Gogh captured this deep mystery of movement, fluid and light in his work. Lesson by Natalya St. Clair, animation by Avi Ofer."
  • Video: We Decoded NASA's Messages To Aliens By Hand
    "In 1977, twin golden records were sent into space on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. Still sailing through space at nearly 60,000 km per hour, the records contain sound, songs, and images from earth. But how did NASA include images on an analog record? Here, we decoded the audio, and see the images the way that aliens were intended to see them."- Verge Science
  • Video: What's The Smallest Thing In The Universe?
    "If you were to take a coffee cup, and break it in half, then in half again, and keep carrying on, where would you end up? Could you keep on going forever? Or would you eventually find a set of indivisible building blocks out of which everything is made? Jonathan Butterworth explains the Standard Model theory and how it helps us understand the world we live in. Lesson by Jon Butterworth, directed by Nick Hilditch." TED-Ed includes Lessons
  • Waves, Light and Sound - Physics 101 / AP Physics 1 Review with Physics Girl
    “Lesson 17 (Waves, Light, and Sound) of Dianna's Intro Physics Class on Physics Girl. Never taken physics before? Want to learn the basics of physics? Need a review of AP Physics concepts before the exam? This course is for you! “
  • What is Imaging Science?
    An overview to the field of imaging science
  • White Paper: Ethical Exploration and the Role of Planetary Protection in Disrupting Colonial Practices
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Space Messengers is made possible in part by the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund for U.S. Alumni; an opportunity sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by Partners of the Americas. This project is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts

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