Sonifying the brightness of the stars

Abstract

Sonification is the use of voiceless audio to convey information and can be used to support inclusive
astronomy, in particular to develop initiatives to get closer to the wonders of the universe and create
accessible content for visually impaired audiences. In this work we present the design and implementation
of a device to soundly reproduce the brightness of stars, converting light into audible sounds. The device
consists of a light sensor, a 16-bit digital analog converter, and an arduino. The sensor can be installed in the
eyepiece of a telescope to acquire the light data, thus obtaining a sound as output, with different frequencies
depending on the apparent magnitude of the star that the instrument looks at.