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The Sonified Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

Understanding the physical properties of stars, and putting these properties into the context of stellar evolution, is a core challenge in astronomical research. A key visualization in studying stellar evolution is the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD), organizing data about stellar luminosity and colour into a form that is informative about stellar structure and evolution. However, connecting the HRD with other sources of information, including stellar time series, is an outstanding challenge. Here we present a new method to turn stellar time series into sound. This method encodes physically meaningful features such that auditory comparisons between sonifications of different stars preserve astrophysical differences between them. We present an interactive multimedia version of the HRD that combines both visual and auditory components and that allows exploration of different types of stars both on and off the main sequence through both visual and auditory media.