COSMIC CYCLES
A Space Symphony

Cosmic Cycles is a collaboration between NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, and composer Henry Dehlinger. Conceived by executive producer Wade Sisler, six NASA producers and visualizers shared their creative visions of NASA's many areas of research. Henry Dehlinger took these silent videos and composed new music to accompany them. This fusion of visual and auditory creative works generates an experience that exceeds either one alone.

Presented here are is the complete symphony of seven movements, progressing from the Sun, to Earth, past the Moon, through the solar system and into the farthest reaches of the universe. The videos are paired with computer-generated versions of the full orchestration and are available for download in multiple formats, including master quality.

This gallery also contains links to collections of the visuals that make up each video, allowing anyone access to the same resources that the original artists used.

Click here for a Flickr gallery of images from the world premiere performance by the National Philharmonic.

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The Symphony

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    Cosmic Cycles Teaser
    2023.05.11
    Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony" is a groundbreaking collaboration between acclaimed composer Henry Dehlinger, NASA, and the National Philharmonic, featuring a unique fusion of music and video in seven multimedia works on the Sun, Earth, Moon, Planets, and Cosmos. This transformative project takes the audience on a captivating voyage through the universe, showcasing the beauty and power of the marriage between music and science.
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    Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony
    2023.05.15
    Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony" is a groundbreaking collaboration between acclaimed composer Henry Dehlinger, NASA, and the National Philharmonic, featuring a unique fusion of music and video in seven multimedia works on the Sun, Earth, Moon, Planets, and Cosmos. This transformative project takes the audience on a captivating voyage through the universe, showcasing the beauty and power of the marriage between music and science.

1 The Sun

science.nasa.gov/heliophysics
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    Cosmic Cycles 1: The Sun
    2023.05.11
  • Find Sun Media Here
    Gallery
    Born from a swirling cloud of dust and gas some 4.6 billion years ago, our Sun seethes and boils like a living thing. It is the very center of our solar system, large enough to encompass 1.3 million Earths. Explosions flash on its surface in colors of light beyond human vision. Enormous loops of plasma stretch into space and its influence extends out beyond the planets creating a protective cocoon within the galaxy.

2 Earth Our Home

science.nasa.gov/earth-science

3 Earth as Art

landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov
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    Cosmic Cycles 3: Earth as Art
    2023.05.11
  • Find Earth as Art Media Here
    Gallery
    Our home and the only planet we know of to possess life. In the years since we first managed to leave its atmosphere, our understanding of it has grown exponentially. NASA now observes and measures Earth with an unmatched fleet of spacecraft. Our influence on this incredibly complex and ever-changing sphere is both obvious and insignificant.

4 The Moon

moon.nasa.gov
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    Cosmic Cycles 4: The Moon
    2023.05.11
  • Find Moon Media Here
    Gallery
    Our constant companion through the solar system. The Moon is the only celestial object that humanity has visited in person. Although it looks flat and unchanging from the ground, recent measurements have shown it to be a rugged and dynamic environment. The most familiar object in the night sky, the Moon is our steppingstone to the rest of the cosmos.

5 Planetary Fantasia

solarsystem.nasa.gov
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    Cosmic Cycles 5: Planetary Fantasia
    2023.05.11
  • Find Planetary Media Here
    Gallery
    Earth’s siblings, created at the birth of the solar system, the other planets give us a glimpse of the variety possible in the universe and how lucky Earth is. As we begin to explore these other worlds, we fuel our adventurous spirit and discover new wonders at every turn: riverbeds on Mars; volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io; auroras on Saturn; and sulphuric-acid rain on Venus.

6 Travelers (DART and OSIRIS-REx)

solarsystem.nasa.gov
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    Cosmic Cycles 6: Travelers
    2023.05.11
  • Find Travelers Media Here
    Gallery
    Nomads of the solar system, small objects like asteroids and comets wander among the planets, bound only to the Sun. Messengers from the distant pasts, many of these small bodies are made of debris from the formation of the solar system and carry clues about the origins of life. NASA has just begun visiting them, reaching and then touching the asteroid Bennu to collect samples of rock unchanged for nearly 5 billion years.

7 Echoes of the Big Bang

universe.nasa.gov