                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2024 March 25

              Sonified: The Jellyfish Nebula Supernova Remnant
      Image Credit: X-ray (blue): Chandra (NASA) & ROSAT (ESA); Optical
    (red): DSS (NSF); Radio (green): VLA (NRAO, NSF); Sonification: NASA,
        CXC, SAO, K. Arcand; SYSTEM Sounds: M. Russo, A. Santaguida)

   Explanation: What does a supernova remnant sound like? Although sound
   is a compression wave in matter and does not carry into empty space,
   interpretive sound can help listeners appreciate and understand a
   visual image of a supernova remnant in a new way. Recently, the
   Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443) has been sonified quite creatively. In the
   featured sound-enhanced video, when an imaginary line passes over a
   star, the sound of a drop falling into water is played, a sound
   particularly relevant to the nebula's aquatic namesake. Additionally,
   when the descending line crosses gas that glows red, a low tone is
   played, while green sounds a middle tone, and blue produces a tone with
   a relatively high pitch. Light from the supernova that created the
   Jellyfish Nebula left approximately 35,000 years ago, when humanity was
   in the stone age. The nebula will slowly disperse over the next million
   years, although the explosion also created a dense neutron star which
   will remain indefinitely.

                       Tomorrow's picture: comet tails
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

