Sonification of Planetary Orbits in Asteroid Belts

Abstract

This study investigates the design and evaluation of a sonification designed to detect any planets orbiting within an asteroid belt of an exosolar system. The interface was designed for an astronomer who studies this phenomenon. User centered design methods were applied to create an accurate sonification of the data that could allow the astronomer to perceive possible planetary movements within an asteroid belt. The sonification was developed over three stages: A requirements gathering exercise inquiring about the data that the astronomer uses in her work. A design and development stage based on the findings of the requirements gathering and the third stage, an evaluation of the sonification design. The sonification effectively allowed the astronomer to immediately detect a planet orbiting within an asteroid belt. Multiple parameter mappings provide richer auditory stimuli that are more semantical to the user. The use of more familiar, natural sounding sound design led to a clearer comprehension of the dataset. The use of spatial mapping and movement allowed for immediate identification and understanding of the planet's course through the asteroid belt. CCS CONCEPTSHuman-centered computing →Interaction design→Interaction design process and methods →User centered design.

Sonification of TESS Data Validation Timeseries Files

“…Institutional projects like Astronify from the STScI [6], Sound from Around the Milky Way [7] and A Universe of Sound [8] from NASA's Chandra Xray Center, coexist with research teams developing compositions, studies and tools that contribute to establish the current state of the art in this topic. Works like CosMonic from the IAA-CSIC [9], Sonifcation of Dark Matter by Bonet et al [10], Sonifcation of the zCOSMOS Galaxy Dataset by Bardelli et al [11], Sonifcation of Planetary Orbits in Asteroid Belts by Quinton et al [12] and the revision of tools like x-sonify by Garcia et al [13] or Sonifcation Sandbox by Walker [14], leading to Highcharts Sonifcation Studio by Cantrell et al [15], are highlighted examples of what draws the international sonifcation landscape in which the proposal of this article could be framed.…”

Evolving from xSonify: a new digital platform for sonorization

“…Como ya se ha mencionado anteriormente, el uso de sonorización en astronomía existe desde hace años, algunos ejemplos recientes que aún no han sido mencionados son: La sonorización del conjunto de datos astronómicos zCOSMOS, donde los autores describen el conjunto de datos y la estrategia de sonorización utilizada (Bardelli et al, 2021); LightSound, un dispositivo electrónico que permite convertir la luz en sonido, se utiliza, principalmente, para observar eclipses (Bieryla et al, 2020); Una plataforma de sonorización construida en colaboración con el equipo de ATLAS Outreach y una página web que permite al público en general escuchar experimentos en tiempo real (Cherston et al, 2016); El software Quasar Spectroscopy Sound centrado en la sonorización de conjuntos de datos cosmológicos, la técnica utilizada es descripta por Hansen et al (2020); Un proyecto con la refuncionalización de dos aceleradores de partículas cósmicas donde se describió el uso de despliegue auditivo en conjunto con despliegue visual, el objetivo era hacer más accesibles los descubrimientos, la sonorización fue hecha con características musicales y desarrollada específicamente para este caso de estudio (Ohm et al, 2021); Quinton et al (2021) describe un diseño de sonorización de órbitas planetarias en cinturones de asteroides.…”