For July 4, NASA Unveils a Cosmic Fireworks Show — Complete With Sound

NASA is celebrating the United States' 250th birthday with a spectacular gift from outer space. The space agency released four dramatic images of objects in the universe, all colored in red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July. The images show a blown-apart star, a star-forming cloud, a nearby spiral galaxy, and a massive cluster of galaxies far, far away. Best of all, NASA turned three of the images into music so people can not only see the cosmos — they can hear it too.

The four space objects in the collection were captured using some of NASA's most powerful telescopes. These include the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Scientists also used data from telescopes on the ground. Each image was colored in a patriotic scheme to mark the holiday.

The first image shows Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant about 11,000 light-years from Earth. A supernova remnant is what's left after a massive star explodes. Blue color in the image comes from X-ray data captured by the Chandra telescope, while red and white show the expanding cloud of gas and dust seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. This is the only image in the set that does not have a sound version.

The second image shows a nebula called NGC 3603, a giant cloud of gas and dust where new stars are being born. It sits about 20,000 light-years from Earth and looks like a bright red burst — just like a chrysanthemum firework. NASA scientists turned this image into sound by matching different parts of the image to different instruments. Neutron stars and black holes play as piano notes, while light captured by the Hubble telescope sounds like a gentle acoustic guitar, and X-ray energy hums in the background.

The third image features Messier 94, a spiral galaxy also known as NGC 4736, located about 16 million light-years away. Even though it is very far, this galaxy is so bright that sky watchers can spot it with a good store-bought telescope. In NASA's sound version, X-ray data becomes a whistling wind, while dense objects like neutron stars and black holes ring out like a glass marimba. Piano notes represent stars and distant galaxies in the background.

The fourth and final image shows a galaxy cluster called ZwCl 0024+1652, which is an almost unimaginable 5 billion light-years from Earth. This cluster is famous for having a ring of dark matter — an invisible substance that scientists can detect but cannot directly see. The dark matter ring formed long ago when two galaxy clusters crashed into each other. In the sound version, a sci-fi synthesizer highlights the strange ring, piano notes mark background galaxies, and a glockenspiel pings for stars.

NASA's program to turn space data into sound began in 2020. It is called sonification, which means converting information — like light or X-rays from space — into sounds the human ear can hear. The program was created to help blind and low-vision people experience the universe in a new way. But sighted people enjoy it too, since listening gives everyone a fresh way to explore space. NASA even offers a free online tool that lets anyone turn space images into their own cosmic song.