Supernova Sonata

To help understand the diversity of the SNe Ia observations the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey have turned the 241 SNe Ia they detected into a sound animation  (created by Alex H. Parker (University of Victoria) and Melissa L. Graham (University of California Santa Barbara / LCOGT); original post: http://www.astro.uvic.ca/~alexhp/new/supernova_sonata.html). Here the volume represents the distance to the SNe Ia (more distant SNe Ia are quieter), the pitch represents the stretch (wider light curves are played on higher notes) and the instrument represents the mass of the  galaxy which hosted the SNe Ia (massive hosts were played on the stand-up bass and the less massive hosts played by the grand piano).

(Courtesy of Alex H. Parker (University of Victoria) and Melissa L. Graham (University of California Santa Barbara / LCOGT).)