Modern astronomy has brought more visual richness to space discoveries. Now, in almost real time, we can officially, in an illustrative way, understand what astronomers are discovering and can see in their powerful telescopes. However, NASA wants more, it wants us to hear and feel space.
Feel and hear the universe through the hands of NASA
One of the amazing benefits of modern astronomy is the wealth of astronomical images that fuel our curiosity and imagination. From the Hubble telescope to the web, the new images we see online almost every day are a way to understand what astronomers "see." But there is more than seeing, there is also feeling and hearing..
Feeling and hearing help this information reach other people. Then we get into the access field. The images shown by NASA and other agencies are not for everyone. If a person has poor eyesight, is color blind, or processes auditory or kinesthetic information better, astrophotographs can be very limiting.
With that in mind, project learning world from NASA explores how astronomy can be conveyed in multisensory ways.
The project is a collaboration of scientists, artists, and educators working together to help us hear black holes or feel stellar nurseries. His most recent work has focused on a group of galaxies known as the Stephen Quintet.
If you have already seenIt's a wonderful lifeIt is used to represent an argument between angels over the film's protagonist. The cluster was the first compact galaxy cluster ever discovered in 1877, and has been a popular target for astronomers ever since.
The NASA team has devised several ways to explore the quincunx. You can see the shape of galaxies in different wavelengths and explore them in 3D.
You can also hear the sounds created when the colors and brightness of images are expressed as musical notes, a process known as sonication.
The team even created a tactile map of the Quintet, where students can explore the visual hills and valleys of Stephan's Quintet just by feel.
While much of the focus of the project has been on the educational uses of multisensory astronomy, there are scientific benefits as well. We see astronomy as pictures because for centuries all we could do was look at the universe.
When new instruments for astronomy such as radio and X-ray telescopes were created, the data collected was often used to create images, although telescopes do not take pictures in the same way as optical telescopes.
Of course, we cannot escape our essence. We are visual creatures, and therefore images speak to us in powerful ways. Remember that "a picture is worth a thousand words". However, humans are also creatures of sensations and touch is important. We also have to add audio and listening experiences.
Just as on Earth we explore the world around us using all of our senses, so in space we would have to. So, as the Universe of Learning team creates ways for us to sense galaxies and hear about black holes, they provide us with new ways to understand the universe. This is a blessing for everyone, of all abilities.
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