Astrophysics :: Cymascope Research

	Cymatics at the Smithsonian A few months ago we were asked by Deborah Stokes, curator for education at the Smithsonian, if it would be possible to image some 'songs of stars' for their new African Cosmos Stellar Arts exhibition which runs through to December 9th 2012. We were delighted to have been asked. This is an important milestone for the CymaScope and it will help the instrument gain acceptance as a useful scientific tool in the world. The atomic processes within the atomic furnace of stars create sounds as a result of the high-energy collisions between atomic particles. These sounds cause the starlight to vary minutely, tiny modulations that can be detected by sensitive instrumentation, then demodulated, recreating the original sounds in the laboratory. Analysis of the star sounds can help asteroseismologists gain a better understanding of the atomic processes with a given star. The star sounds were processed by the following scientists: Star: RR Lyrae Dr Elisabeth Guggenberger, University of Vienna, Austria Star: Chi Hydrae Dr Conny Aerts and team, University of Leuven, Belgium. Sound file created by: European Southern Observatory. Star: PG1159+035 Michael Breger, Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, USA. Star: Sun Dr Guenter Houdek and Dr Douglas Gough, University of Vienna, Austria. The star sound files were fed into a CymaScope, which makes the periodicities in the star sounds visible by imprinting them on the surface of ultra pure water, transcribing the sound periodicities to periodic wavelets, effectively rendering the sounds visible. The CymaScope imagery was captured on-camera and sent to James Stuart Reid who provided colorization and titles. The completed videos were then sent to the Smithsonian where Michael Briggs used them to create the "Star Station," a booth where visitors can experience the stars-sounds-made-visible for the first time. Initial visitor reaction to the Star Station has been very positive and children, in particular, love it. Inspiring children to explore the field of cymatics is an important part of our ethos. The Smithsonian web site article is here: http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/cosmos/starsounds.html The 'star station' in the Smithsonian: The Song of the Stars Made Visible One of the many applications for the CymaScope lies in making visible sounds from the interior of the earth, planets, stars, nebulae and galaxies. All sounds have structure when manifest on a membrane and by making the structure visible on the surface of water the nature of the geometry can help scientists understand the processes at work within planetary and celestial bodies Stanford University, in collaboration with the ESA and NASA, are studying the physics of the Sun both deep within its core and in its outer corona and solar wind regions,via the SOHO spacecraft data. SOHO, which stands for "Solar and Heliospheric Observatory," was built in Europe by a team led by prime contractor Matra Marconi Space under overall management by ESA and was launched on December 2, 1995. The twelve instruments on board were provided by European and American scientists. NASA was responsible for the launch and is now responsible for mission operations. Large radio dishes around the world, which form NASA's Deep Space Network, are used for data downlink and commanding. Mission control is based at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The Stanford web site carries the full story together with some of the sounds captured by the SOHO spacecraft: http://solar-center.stanford.edu/singing/ The following video, posted with permission, was created by Stanford University and explains the basic concepts of the song of the sun. The video includes computer-modeled images that show sound bubbles within the sun's outer regions. Computer-modeled images showing sound bubbles within the sun's outer regions CymaScope.com have imaged one of the SOHO sounds on the CymaScope. We were pleased to discover that our result confirms the bubble-like structures in the sun's outer regions. The CymaScope image shows 28 bubbles against 34 shown in the Stanford model.		Astrophysicsis the branch of astronomy concerned with the physical and chemical properties of celestial bodies. Asteroseismology is a branch of astrophysics in which the internal structure of stars is studied by means of their frequency spectra. The atomic furnaces operating within a star generates sounds that modulate the starlight. These very small modulations can be detected and provide information about the interior processes within stars. Helioseismology sometimes known as Solar Seismology is the study of the Sun by means of its frequency spectra and light modulation. Planetary Physics is the study of the structure, composition, physical and chemical properties of planets and their atmosphere, including listening to sounds emitted by these bodies, typically via modulated infra red light, and interpreting such data. Seismology is the study of the interior of Earth by monitoring earth tremors and earthquakes.

	Our next example concerns the giant hexagonal feature near Saturn's north pole. Planetary experts have postulated several possible explanations to explain the presence of this feature. The cymatic structure of the storm led us to the following explanation, shown below in diagrammatic form. We would welcome input from planetary physicists to modify and improve this model:

	A massive eruptive event, possibly a giant geyser, sends a continuous stream of low frequency sound energy toward the surface of Saturn. This energy triggers convection currents within the ice particle band resulting in the formation of an immense circular palisade. When the sound reach the out layers of the atmosphere, in the region of the methane and helium clouds, it rushes outward in all directions. When the low frequency sound reaches the palisade it is reflected back toward the epicenter. In the mid region, between the epicenter and palisade, the reflected sound energy is partially neutralized by the sound energy traveling outward. The frequency of the sound and the dimensions of the palisade are the prime factors in determining the shape of the nodal (low pressure) area in which clouds form: in this case a clearly defined hexagon, nature's largest cymatic feature.