What does a music teacher do when he ends up teaching science? He teaches about evolution and the geologic timeline with music of course, and that’s what Canadian elementary school teacher John Palmer did. He originally played “Cambrian Explosion” as a rock/hip hop creation in class but has since recorded an acoustic version. (The trio is called Brighter Lights, Thicker Glasses and consists of Palmer on the guitar/vocals, Michael Dunn on the dobro and Brian Samuels on the cello.)
University of Victoria student Alex Parker and University of California postdoctoral researcher Melissa Graham made the above video using telescope observations of nearly 250 type Ia supernovae. Parker and Graham assigned each supernova a piano or upright bass note, depending on the kind of galaxy where the supernova went off—massive host galaxies get bass notes, whereas less massive galaxies get piano notes. Relatively nearby supernovae are louder; more distant supernovae are quieter. The way the supernova brightens and fades over time determines its pitch. The video shows a time-lapse animation, based on real telescope data, during which two weeks of actual time pass by each second.
Graphic created with the assistance of Images/Graphics/Pics
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