supernova sonata

in honor of my birthday (i'd like to think ;) today's astronomy picture of the day is a musically based supernova sonata, created by alex parker, a PhD candidate at the university of victoria in british columbia.

to create the sonata, the team utilized the fact that the canada france hawaii telescope (CFHT) watched 4 different regions of sky from 2003 to 2006 looking for exploding white dwarf stars, more commonly known as supernovae!

each supernova explosion is marked on the images in the video and sounds are assigned based on physical properties of each supernova: louder notes are for closer explosions, pitch is determined by how the particular explosion brightens and fades, and the instrument is chosen based on the mass of the galaxy in which the exploding star lives. notes for massive galaxies are played on a double bass (standup bass, upright bass, contrabass, whatever you want to call it...), while notes of less massive galaxies are played on a grand piano.

you can read more at the vimeo link below the video!

Supernova Sonata from Alex Parker on Vimeo.

flute duet in space

while floating 220 miles above the earth in the international space station, NASA astronaut cady coleman played a flute duet with jethro tull's ian anderson!

according to NASA's site "Coleman and Anderson's performance saluted 50 years of human spaceflight and the anniversary of the first launch of a human to space. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completed that milestone on April 12, 1961.

a little bit goofy, a whole lotta great!

the asteroids galaxy tour

apparently many people know of this song by the asteroids galaxy tour from a TV commercial, but i just heard/saw it for the first time and think its amazing!!

pluto, the previous planet: a song

a couple years ago i was walking to the bus stop with the song "rudolph the red nosed reindeer" stuck in my head, much to my frustration! in order to maintain my sanity, i started singing alternative lyrics based on the phrase that popped into my head: pluto the previous planet! i've been wanting to record this song and post it for the public ever since, but had never really been inspired.

so yesterday during the hack day portion of dotAstronomy meeting, i gathered a few fellow conference participants: astronomers, a great pianist, and an enthusiastic director.... and off we went!

so without futher ado... pluto, the previous planet!!

Pluto, the previous planet from carolune on Vimeo.

as much as i like the song as it is, the last verse might lead one to believe that i would like to reinstate pluto as a planet. i want to state for the record that this is NOT the case! i'm pleased that astronomers have decided on a definition of a planet that is based on some actual physics! the song is just fun and i hope people enjoy it.

with all this in mind, we also developed an accompanying website with a special message from pluto:

"First of all, thank you everyone for your concern, but really, I’m happy in my new role as the original dwarf planet! And there’s no need to worry, nothing physically happened to me to cause my reclassification. In fact, Charon’s been jealous for years that I was considered a planet, while we’ve been dancing around each other in our joint orbit around the sun. And don’t forget about our other two small satellites: Nix and Hydra! They may be small, but they’re important to me. And your Earth only has one Moon, so I feel special..."

here's the website: http://youpiter.org/pluto/

hope you enjoy!

the elements, a song

what do you get when you combine the periodic table of videos, a song called "the elements" by tom lehrer, and brady's editing skills? watch:

we're searching for ET, but it's really hard to see

some clever folks recently made a parody of Ke$ha's hit song, "We R Who We R." i've never heard that song or seen the video, but i don't really feel that i need to after this. its almost a little embarrassing to watch, because of the ridiculousness of modern pop style, but the lyrics are actually really good and the background images are gorgeous!



those of you following the continuing debate about the potential for life to survive on arsenic, might take offense to the song's notion that the discovery expands the possible types of lifeforms that can exist.

i will leave you with some of the reasonable response from the makers of the movie:

We’d like to defend our honor just a little bit in regards to the arsenic debate. Certainly, we know it is a very contentious subject, but we felt we couldn’t really do the whole controversy justice in the context of this parody, so we went with the brief mention. Are we trying to say this is a comprehensive look at everything about astrobiology? Of course not, and we understand you weren’t implying that it was supposed to be. But if we can pique the scientific curiosity of even a few young people, and get them interested in pursuing this field, that’s a win for us.

let's dance

i was hoping to find a live version of M. Ward performing his version of david bowie's let's dance, but alas, i could not. at least you can listen. this version has a much different feel than the original tune... it's an entirely different dance.

white wine in the sun

a beautiful song that really captures the sweet spirit of the christmas season is white wine in the sun by tim minchin.

the national - bloodbuzz ohio

on a recommendation from a good friend, i listened to the band the national for several years before i realized they are originally from ohio! their most recent album made me suspicious enough to look up more info because it has a song called "bloodbuzz ohio" (see video below) and one called "england." turns out they formed in cincinnati in 1999 -- when i was singing in a band in cincinnati as well! damn small world.

the difference is that their band was actually really good and made it work, whereas my band broke up after the horn player stole the girlfriend of the lead singer and *married* her all during one summer when i was off being a physicist in chicago. oh well. it was fun while it lasted.

anyway, i've been listening to this song A LOT lately, so i thought i'd share it.

spitzer song

upon my first viewing of this video about the infrared spitzer space telescope, i couldnt tell if i loved the song or hated it.   i've come around to like it though, so i hope you enjoy it too!



via one small step

so begins another adventure

today i leave england with a one way ticket to australia.

moving far far away is difficult and draining, despite the potential adventures that await in a new land....

its a bittersweet feeling that the inexorable nina simone has managed to capture in her ballad, lonesome cities. see you on the flip side.

stayin' alive in the wall

this mashup of the bee gees and pink floyd works surprisingly well!

OK Go's 'White Knuckles'

here's another winning video from OK Go.



you can donate to animal rescue: here

jupiter of holst

here is a musical piece in honor of jupiter remaining so bright in our night sky for a while.

between 1914 and 1916, the british composer gustav holst wrote a seven-movement orchestral suite called The Planets Op.32. here is jupiter:

silent star wars

i'm almost more impressed by the piano composition than the silent movie bit, but its still worth a quick watch...

how to be alone

a beautiful poem by tanya davis put to video by kilmmaker andrea dorfman.


via ze frank

einstein: scientist and musician

the astronomist reminded me of a very interesting intersection between music and science: albert einstein was an avid violinist!

soon after i arrived in nottingham, i noticed a lecture advertised called "einstein's universe" that was to take place not at the university, but at the albert hall in town:


the presenters, oxford physicist brian foster and musician jack liebeck, would highlight "Einstein's science and his love of the violin." i was instantly intrigued and not disappointed one bit by the lecture and the performances! liebeck played beautifully at different points throughout the lecture and then they played a couple duets, with foster performing the parts that einstein often played with his musician friends.

here's a small video with interviews from both performers to give you an idea behind the lecture's inspiration.

world cup 2010: finally!

the world cup 2010 is finally upon us!!

i've been looking forward to today's match between the USA and England for a loooong time! my flag is flying high and my red cowboy boots are all shined up and ready for victory - YEEHAW! i think which ever of these two teams manages to win the group will have a relatively easy time making it thru to the late stages! you never know though, we'll see...

so who do you have placed to win the whole shuh-bang?? i'm going for spain this time because i like a lot of individual players (torres, of course) and i'm hoping for a big win by a team that has never won la copa mundial before. i know the USA surprised us all last summer by defeating spain and making it to their first ever FIFA international tournament final, but my statement still stands.

in other world cup new, i think the official world cup anthem by shakira is so bad that i wont even post a link to it, but i will share this video by the great angelique kidjo and famous musical crew:



during the build up to this world cup, i learned about the phenomenon of the world cup sticker book, which many people fill up during their childhood world cups, but i never knew about it growing up in the US... so i've decided to collect now! i've filled up about half the book so far, but i have a lot of repeat player stickers. as i do not know very many young people here to trade with, please let me know if you have extras that you might like to swap!!!

atheists don't have no songs

steve martin is apparently tired of making funny films and writing books and has decided to take his banjo-playing a little more seriously. he released a record last year and has been hitting several music festivals this year with the steep canyon boys. here they are singing a little song called "atheists don't have no songs."

"the case for mars," a song

the youtube contributer melody sheep has created another interesting song and video using snippets from different scientists like carl sagan, robert zubrin, brian cox, and penelope boston.



more videos can be found at symphony of science.