Generative Musical Exploration of Astronomical Catalogs
摘要
This article proposes the application of generative models for the autonomous musical exploration of astronomical data to be used both in creative applications and scientific outreach. It is focused on the catalog of variable sources observed by the Optical Monitoring Camera (OMC) onboard the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), which is hosted by the Spanish Virtual Observatory (SVO). The work describes a methodology, based on Box Least Squares (BLS) periodograms and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, for the exploration of astronomical catalogs through sound and music. The proposal explores the representation of light flux time-series through musical notes calculated from the main periodic signal detected in the represented light curves. The resulting notes are cross-matched with a generative composition created from a selection of musical pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The autonomous composition Mozart’s sky is presented as a proof of concept that provides real sky examples of the creative and informative possibilities behind this approach.