- Title: Near-blind astronomer reveals the 'sounds of space' for the visually impaired
- Date: 24th December 2019
- Summary: PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND, UK (RECENT) (REUTERS) SMARTPHONE / UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH FELLOW AT THE INSTITUTE OF COSMOLOGY AND GRAVITATION, DOCTOR NICOLAS BONNE, AT HIS DESK LISTENING TO AUDIO ON A SMARTPHONE SAYING (English): "So what we're hearing here is what it would sound like if we could listen to all of the stars that you can see just using the naked eye appearing above the Very Large Telescope, which is an ESO installation in Chile. And you can hear there's louder noises, there's high pitched noises, there's low pitched noises. The louder noises are the brighter stars, the quieter noises are the fainter stars which appear later on as the sun gets lower and lower below the horizon. The high pitched stars are blue and the low pitched stars are red. So there's a lot of information." DR BONNE LOOKING AT A 3D IMAGE OF STARS VARIOUS OF DR BONNE EXAMINING 3D IMAGE OF STARS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH FELLOW AT THE INSTITUTE OF COSMOLOGY AND GRAVITATION, DOCTOR NICOLAS BONNE, SAYING: "Astronomy is just such a visual subject and it's something that visually impaired people can find really hard to access or get interested in because the resources just don't exist to allow them to learn about it and to see all those beautiful pictures that everyone else is able to see." LEGO SPACE SHUTTLE ON DESK (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH FELLOW AT THE INSTITUTE OF COSMOLOGY AND GRAVITATION, DOCTOR NICOLAS BONNE, SAYING: "The way that tactile universe works is we basically take regular astronomy images, so the kind of things you would show to the public to get them excited about astronomy, but we make them tactile. And the way that we do this is we 3D print our models and we have a nice little bit of software one of my colleagues wrote that basically takes the brightness of any part of the image and turns it into a tactile height. So basically by running your fingertips over the top of this you're feeling the image in exactly the same way your eyes would be seeing that image. So you're feeling the bits that are bright, feeling the bits that are dim and you can build an overall picture of the shape." DR BONNE DESCRIBING 3D IMAGES OF STARS
- Embargoed: 7th January 2020 11:38
- Keywords: European Southern Observatory NASA Space astronomy astronomy show for the blind stars
- Location: PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND, UK / IN SPACE
- City: PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND, UK / IN SPACE
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Science,Space Exploration
- Reuters ID: LVA002BBC3C63
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:"Hearing those two galaxies whoosh past each other," Doctor Nicolas Bonne of the University of Portsmouth told Reuters, "that was one of the clearest senses I've ever had of that process going on."
Dr Bonne, born visually impaired but not quite blind, is listening to the sound of space - real astronomical datasets turned in to audio or what he calls the 'sonification' of astronomy.
"Here is what it would sound like if we could listen to all of the stars that you can see just using the naked eye appearing above the Very Large Telescope, which is an ESO (European Southern Observatory) installation in Chile," Bonne, Public Engagement and Outreach Fellow at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, told Reuters.
The data for this audio file was recorded as the sun set and the stars appeared over the ESO on September 13, 2019. Each sound represents the appearance of a star, bright or dim, blue or red, speeded up and tied to its original position in the night sky.
The sounds were created for 'A Dark Tour of the Universe', an astronomy show unlocking the mystery and beauty of deep space for the blind and visually impaired for the first time.
"Astronomy is just such a visual subject and it's something that visually impaired people can find really hard to access or get interested in because the resources just don't exist to allow them to learn about it and to see all those beautiful pictures that everyone else is able to see," Bonne said.
A Dark Tour of the Universe also offers a tactile experience of the Universe by using 3D printed models of astronomical images.
"By running your fingertips over the top of this you're feeling the image in exactly the same way your eyes would be seeing that image. So you're feeling the bits that are bright, feeling the bits that are dim and you can build an overall picture of the shape," Bonne said.
"You can kind of think of this as a slightly more complicated version of braille. So where braille is single level this has a lot more levels to it but you are still using your fingertips," Bonne said.
The Tactile Universe is already available throughout Britain, for schools and others to engage with science. And 'A Dark Tour of the Universe' show will eventually also be made publicly available, so people can listen to space from computers and tablets at home.
(Production: Stuart McDill) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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