Illusions!
Clayton Shonkwiler is a Math Professor at Colorado State University. He has no art training, but his mom was an Art History major and his dad was an Architect, so he said that ‘there were always lots of art and architecture books and prints around’. He started making gifs as a way to illustrate something in a research talk, became hooked on the possibilities and now, several years later, he has built a body of elegant and mesmerizing gif work. He is part of a trend that I have been noticing of coder artists that I have written about more at length here
Read a short interview with Clayton Shonkwiler here
Posted by David
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Little Rock
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” - Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11
Voyager famously captured two unique views of our homeworld from afar. One image, taken in 1977 from a distance of 7.3 million miles (11.7 million kilometers) (above), showed the full Earth and full Moon in a single frame for the first time in history. The second (below), taken in 1990 as part of a “family portrait of our solar system from 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers), shows Earth as a tiny blue speck in a ray of sunlight.” This is the famous “Pale Blue Dot” image immortalized by Carl Sagan.
“This was our willingness to see the Earth as a one-pixel object in a far greater cosmos,” Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan said of the image. “It’s that humility that science gives us. That weans us from our childhood need to be the center of things. And Voyager gave us that image of the Earth that is so heart tugging because you can’t look at that image and not think of how fragile, how fragile our world is. How much we have in common with everyone with whom we share it; our relationship, our relatedness, to everyone on this tiny pixel.“
Our Kepler mission captured Earth’s image as it slipped past at a distance of 94 million miles (151 million kilometers). The reflection was so extraordinarily bright that it created a saber-like saturation bleed across the instrument’s sensors, obscuring the neighboring Moon.
This beautiful shot of Earth as a dot beneath Saturn’s rings was taken in 2013 as thousands of humans on Earth waved at the exact moment the spacecraft pointed its cameras at our home world. Then, in 2017, Cassini caught this final view of Earth between Saturn’s rings as the spacecraft spiraled in for its Grand Finale at Saturn.
”The image is simply stunning. The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17…which also showed Africa prominently in the picture.“ -Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for our Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission.
As part of an engineering test, our OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this image of Earth and the Moon in January 2018 from a distance of 39.5 million miles (63.6 million kilometers). When the camera acquired the image, the spacecraft was moving away from our home planet at a speed of 19,000 miles per hour (8.5 kilometers per second). Earth is the largest, brightest spot in the center of the image, with the smaller, dimmer Moon appearing to the right. Several constellations are also visible in the surrounding space.
A human observer with normal vision, standing on Mars, could easily see Earth and the Moon as two distinct, bright "evening stars.”
“This image from the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite captured a unique view of the Moon as it moved in front of the sunlit side of Earth in 2015. It provides a view of the far side of the Moon, which is never directly visible to us here on Earth. “I found this perspective profoundly moving and only through our satellite views could this have been shared.” - Michael Freilich, Director of our Earth Science Division.
Eight days after its final encounter with Earth—the second of two gravitational assists from Earth that helped boost the spacecraft to Jupiter—the Galileo spacecraft looked back and captured this remarkable view of our planet and its Moon. The image was taken from a distance of about 3.9 million miles (6.2 million kilometers).
Earth from about 393,000 miles (633,000 kilometers) away, as seen by the European Space Agency’s comet-bound Rosetta spacecraft during its third and final swingby of our home planet in 2009.
The Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft captured several stunning images of Earth during a gravity assist swingby of our home planet on Aug. 2, 2005.
Our home planet is a beautiful, dynamic place. Our view from Earth orbit sees a planet at change. Check out more images of our beautiful Earth here.
We pioneer and supports an amazing range of advanced technologies and tools to help scientists and environmental specialists better understand and protect our home planet - from space lasers to virtual reality, small satellites and smartphone apps.
To celebrate Earth Day 2018, April 22, we are highlighting many of these innovative technologies and the amazing applications behind them.
Learn more about our Earth Day plans HERE.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
LØUIS BLUE
disclaimer: she is a tiny Chinese lady and literally cannot tell a violin sound from a piano
Mozart: “So nice and simple. It makes my heart settled. 不慌张。”
Beethoven: “What is it you kids say? I am shook? Yes, I am very shaken.”
Bach: “There is a lot going on here.”
Chopin: “Wow, very nice! It sounds messy, but a lovely messy. I think it really is a Fantastic Impromptu!”
Liszt: “真的好厉害哦, I never knew the piano could be played in this way. I think I will have bad dreams tonight”
Bartók: “Originally, I thought what is this no-head-no-tail garbage. But now, I quite like it.”
Rachmaninoff: “Stop playing this, I don’t like it. Really, I don’t understand how you can listen to this while you study.”
Tchaikovsky: “Very nice very nice. Wow look, the violinist is so cute, he’s playing with his eyes closed!”
Schubert: “He picks all the right notes.”
Mahler: “Too loud, I can feel the trumpet ringing around in my ears. 吵死了, turn it off or I won’t be helping you with your math tonight.”
Debussy: “Mmm. I like this one. So relaxing, it just makes me want to go to a spa. That reminds me, I need to book a facial.”
Set the origaminals free!!
Elegant Origami Sculptures by Floriane Touitou
Parisian boutique FlorigamiShop features stunning and elegant animal origami sculptures by artist Floriane Touitou. Since 2014, Touitou has been constructing handmade unicorns, dragons, and antelopes among her majestic and magical creations. You can find more designs on her Etsy shop!
View similar posts here!
Hillarity
‘Mort’ by Terry Pratchett Page 63