Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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  • Paul Renault

    I disagree:  It doesn’t need a sound track; it’s great all by itself. Too bad the video isn’t 1080.  (I’m so tired of sound tracks mediating how I’m supposed to feel…)

    I wish this was a flash file that I could slow down, run backwards, etc.

    • SomeGuyNamedMark

       A clock to give some sense of time scale would be nice too

  • http://twitter.com/digitalArtform Joseph Francis

    I was thinking ‘Gangnam Style.’

  • http://twitter.com/rkabir Ryan Kabir

    While I agree with PaulR – I think Apparat’s “A Bang In The Void” would be perfect.

    • Paul Renault

      Woo!  Thanks, I’ve discovered some new music.

      (I’m tempted to watch the video again on super slow, but while listening to Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.)

      /Edited to add: I found a nice video of a performance of Mf18M in Tokyo, featuring closeups of the performers. It reminds you that the music is still made by people’s hands, lungs, and voices.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLckHHc25ww

      I don’t know if you’ve ever attended a live performance of Glass’s Koyaanisqatsi. There’s the same magic. It’s very invigorating!

  • Boundegar

    I don’t see any discrete spiral arms – any idea why?

    • miasm

      Ooh, QI stinker here methinks, I’ll go for it!
      The spiral arms are epiphenomena, something like pressure waves, travelling through the galactic medium.
      *glances behind at big display

  • edgore

    It has a very accurate soundtrack already.

    • Paul Renault

       Dang, I thought the exact same thing while I was typing!  Soundless space was one of the things that made 2001: A Space Odyssey so brilliant.  But a phone call made me forget it.

  • WebSorcerer

    I listened to Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ while watching the video. It is AWESOME!!!

  • http://twitter.com/SteveBedi Stephen Bedi

    Foudn the perfect soudntrack. Give it a shot. Start them both at the same time….

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjy2yfLUJSg

  • http://twitter.com/domvonstoesser Dominic von Stösser

    Works pretty well to Yakety Sax. Because every video works when accompanied by Yakety Sax.

  • http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby

    It’s exactly how bits of food gather around the plug hole in my kitchen sink.

    Makes you think.

    About cleaning the sink.

    • t3kna2007

      Wheels within wheels in a spiral array,
      A pattern so grand and complex.

      • Lobster

         Yeah, so grand and complex I’m gonna need a Brillo pad to get it off.

  • SomeGuyNamedMark

    Goes well with “Are You Ready for This?”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ6CcEOmlYU

  • s2redux

    To match the clip’s 2:17 duration and be suitably themed, you could try Flying (The Beatles), Become Life (Bob Holroyd), Twilight in the Magic Forest (“Best of the Pleiades” album), or O Tempo Samba by Grupo Batuque (great sound for the visuals; the thematic connection is via the Far Out label ;-)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=665761044 Ian Malbon
  • http://twitter.com/pickledbeatnik pickledbeatnik

    It needs the Discordance from 2001: Space Odyssey 

  • http://www.facebook.com/eptcb126 Eric Peterson

    this is not only the right length but i would argue the write tone/theme:

    http://soundcloud.com/atheistjihad/06-riffle-mastered

    • http://twitter.com/chriscoreline chris coreline

       Yes! get that recut, Ligity Split.

  • miasm

    Blush Response – Vangelis.
    Set about 1:38 of the song relative to the start of the video.
    Edit: perhaps that should be… 1.37
    :3

  • xzzy

    Only soundtrack it needs is a scientist talking about the animation, identifying key points as it plays to aid in the educational aspect.

    It’s pretty informative like it is, but there’s nothing quite like someone with a doctorate creating some background with additional facts.

    • http://twitter.com/chriscoreline chris coreline

       bonus points if the facts, while correct, are totally unrelated.

  • http://twitter.com/randywalters Randy Walters

    That’s just unspeakably beautiful.

  • sillyrabbi

    I would suggest Journey of the Sorcerer by The Eagles.  Why?  Because TIL that the BBC used a freaking Eagles song as the theme for the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_of_These_Nights#.22Journey_of_the_Sorcerer.22

  • http://twitter.com/AntiBoredomTeam Dan Century

    Feel free to download and remix one or more of my many space-inspired songs http://soundcloud.com/milkshake-daddy/sets/songs-about-outer-space  and use it for this. I’m busy with Sandy related issues, otherwise I’d whip something up. Click the down-pointing arrows to download.

  • errata

    I know exactly a song that could be awesome with this video, the Monty python’s galaxy song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk

  • http://twitter.com/tueksta Andreas Beer

    My favourite track for this video would be Cafe del Mar – Ar Rahman – Mumbai Theme Tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdzHJs0t6WM

  • Cowicide

    The galaxy is happy to be born, alive and kicking it.  It’s thrilled with all the hot damn, paydirt matter it acquires as it blossoms and energizes.  I originally created this song some years ago, but just edited a little today to better fit the NASA video.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LixB_7cURs

  • http://twitter.com/rustlem rustlem

    By chance I happened to be listening to “Evening Star” by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. Worked for me.

  • Boundegar

    People really hate silence, it seems.

    • Cowicide

      Or maybe just really like music?

  • welcomeabored
  • devilbliss
  • Ms. Anne Thrope

    Try it with a little classical: Debussy’s Clair de lune or Arabesque No. 1  

  • da_phonz

    this track might be over excited for it.

    http://soundcloud.com/tomphonic/01-tom-phonic-mikestant