Westerlund 2

Westerlund 2 is a young star cluster, estimated to be about one to two million years old, located roughly 20,000 light-years from Earth. The visual representation of this cluster reveals thick clouds of star-forming regions, shown in green and blue from Hubble, while Chandra’s X-ray data (in purple) penetrates through these clouds.

In this sonification, sounds sweep from left to right across the field of view. Brighter light results in louder sounds, while the pitch of the notes corresponds to the vertical position of sources in the image, with higher pitches representing objects towards the top. The Hubble data is represented by strings—plucked for individual stars and bowed for diffuse clouds—while Chandra’s X-ray data is represented by bells, with more diffuse X-ray light played as sustained tones.

Sonification credits: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)