The Need
A common misconception is that space is silent but contrary to popular belief that is not the case. Space is filled with sound, different to what we are used to but it courses the darkness, unheard. The source: celestial bodies; Apart from the sun and the moon, most of these residents of our solar system are out of physical or visual grasp for most people.
The Science Behind it
On the 5th of September, 1977, NASA launched the Voyager 1 Space Probe to explore the secrets of our Solar System.
Amongst various instruments present on the probe, the plasma Wave System present on the voyager has the capability of picking Electromagnetic Vibrations from various celestial bodies.
The spacecraft communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and return data. The electromagnetic vibrations of each planet are available on the DSN's website as audio files.
Electromagnetic vibrations include all spectrums of vibration which do not require a medium to propagate in. These are caused by the interaction of solar wind on the magnetospheres of the planets, which releases ionic particles with an audible vibration frequency. Essentially, we can then translate these waves into sound waves and each planet has a unique sound pattern owning to their unique magnetic fields.
Concept
After thoughtful consideration, an installation was chosen to be the most ideal way to represent the concept as it would allow for users to physically interact and visualize the sounds allowing for tacit knowledge gain.
A water-based, cymatics installation was chosen.
Cymatics
Cymatics is the study of visible sound vibration and shows the transformational nature of sound and matter. Since the electromagnetic vibrations were unique to each celestial body, Cymatics was the perfect medium through which celestial bodies can be experienced.
Water
Water is thought to exist as liquid beneath the surface of planetary bodies, similarly to groundwater on Earth. With water being the core of life and our solar system’s composition, be it as ice or as vapour, it was the best suited medium to represent the cymatics of the planets in.
Manifestation
The layout of the entire installation was based on the current model of the solar system. The model of the solar system clearly shows 4 distinct parts of the solar system. The heliosphere contains the sun and the planets, the termination shock, the heliopause, and the bow shock. This model was adopted as the basis for the layout of the installation
Each part of the installation is represented as a part of the heliosphere and its surrounding layers formed by the sun by its interaction with interstellar space.
the installation relies on the audio recordings from the celestial bodies, due to electromagnetic vibrations caused by the interaction of the solar winds with their magnetosphere to create an ionosphere, by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. These soundtracks are available in an Online repository maintained by NASA and are in the audible frequency. The soundtracks are all visualizes in the form of cymatics visualizations thus creating a unique experience for the user.
The outer wall provides a definitive boundary between the installation and the rest of the outside space. It helps in containing and helps the user to enjoy the experience to the fullest. The outer wall of the installation represents Heliopause.
The trough is the heart of the installation containing water, the medium for visualization. It sits in the middle of the installation illuminated by a light above it.
The inner trough represents the entirety of the solar system, including the sun and all other celestial bodies. This contains the water which is the medium for cymatic visualizations.
The outer wall trough represents the Termination shock of the solar system.
The speakers utilized for the installation are high bass speakers which tend to give the best output in terms of vibrations.
The base is a housing unit for the speakers which is connected to an amplifier. The vibrations caused by the sound propagates through to the trough to produce cymatic patterns.
Digital Adaptation
A digital adaptation of the installation was created to enable people from experiencing the installation from anywhere.
This was achieved by mounting a camera above the trough to capture the various cymatics patterns produced by the sound files. Youtube's annotation system was used to create an interactive interface through which potential viewers could select and listen to the sound of a celestial body of their choosing.
Pattern Formation
Unique patterns were generated by playing each track through the installation. These patterns were captured.
Meow-nu.
