My Second Published Science Fiction Story Now Available Free On Line

 As some regular readers know, one my recent projects is writing short science fiction stories based on good astronomy. After a long learning period, two of my stories have now been published in science fiction anthologies. The second one, which is about exploding stars and music, just had its rights returned to me, and so I am happy to put it up free on the web for everyone's enjoyment at: 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310397794_Supernova_Rhythm 

After the short story, I have put a non-technical explanation of the science behind the fiction.

The accompanying photo is a NASA composite showing the remnant of Tycho's Supernova, a star seen to explode by the great astronomer Tycho Brahe in October 1604. In this image, blue and green colors shows what the remnant would look like if you had x-ray eyes, the yellow shows what it looks like in visible light, and the green shows the heat rays (infrared) coming from the object. Blended together, all the colors show where this remarkable "left-over"of a star that blew itself to bits is still glowing brightly more than 400 years later.

By the way, if you also want to read my first published science fiction story "A Cave in Arsia Mons" (about a surprising discovery on Mars), you can do so at: 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282914928_The_Cave_in_Arsia_Mons

Music Inspired by Astronomy

I just got back from a fascinating conference in New York on how astronomy has inspired other fields, like art, architecture, poetry, and music over the years. I was the after-dinner entertainmen...I mean...the banquet speaker and had a chance to share the results of my 30-plus years of collecting examples of astronomical music (assembled with the help of many generations of students).

Composers of both classical and popular music have long been inspired by the ideas and discoveries of astronomy. The picture with this post, for example, shows some sheet music from 1901 that was inspired by physicist (and inventor) Nikola Tesla's claim that his early radio equipment had intercepted signals from our neighbor planet Mars. Actually they turned out to be perfectly natural radio waves from the upper layers of the Earth atmosphere, but for a while the news media were touting the idea that martians might be signaling us.

If you want to see my full list of 133 "astronomy music" pieces that you can find on CD, it's at:http://aer.aas.org/resource/1/aerscz/v11/i1/p010303_s1?view=fulltext

With the growth of videos on YouTube and other web sites, you can actually watch some of these pieces being performed. Among my popular-music favorites on video are:

1) "Walking on the Moon" by the Police (comparing the feeling of being in love to being on the Moon's surface):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPpvHEsC_PM

2) "Hawking" by Todd Rundgren (which tries to put the listener in the body and mind of brilliant but wheelchair-bound physicist Stephen Hawking): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk7uZO1iED8

3) "Why the Sun Really Shines" by They Might Be Giants (a children's song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-KyciKHw-g

4) And, for a change of pace, the "Elements" song by 1960's humorist (and math professor) Tom Lehrer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3NOQnsQM

A number of brave composers have put together musical pieces that are based on the rhythms or tones of actual astronomical observations. There is music based on radio signals from galaxies, on the index of how the Sun affects the Earth's magnetic field, and on the speed with which the planets orbit the Sun. A fun recent example is "Supernova Sonata" -- music based on a catalog of newly discovered exploding stars in other galaxies:http://vimeo.com/23927216

I have enjoyed collecting these musical examples of the power of astronomy to affect our imaginations and hope you enjoy hearing some of them.

Music Inspired by Astronomy

One of my hobbies is collecting examples of music that are seriously influenced by astronomy -- I've found astronomical ideas in both popular songs and classical music. A new catalog of such music (organized by topic) has just been published, and I thought some of you might enjoy seeing the collection of weird and wonderful pieces I have found over the years. (Only pieces available on commercial CD's are included.) The list can be found at: 

http://aer.aas.org/resource/1/aerscz/v11/i1/p010303_s1?view=fulltext

Most of these pieces may not be your cup of tea, but if you are dying to know what six songs include scientifically valid information or ideas about black holes, this is the place you will find an answer.  (Note that this list doesn't including anything about astronauts or space travel, nor does it include any so-called new-age "space music.)   But perhaps you can discover a few pieces that you may enjoy reading about or hearing on your own music player.