Space Art

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Solar eclipse on the moon (painting by Lucien Rudaux )
Double star system with black hole and accretion disk

The space art (German "space art "; occasionally also astronomical art , so "astronomical art") is an art movement that seeks its objects in astronomy and astronautics . A distinction can be made between one

  • realistic representation that seeks to include all available information about a displayed object, and on the other hand one
  • Impressionist representation, for which the astronomical objects are a source of inspiration, but which do not seek a precise representation of details.

Realistic works can be used to illustrate (popular) scientific works and press articles, for example when it comes to conveying an idea of ​​the landscape of an exoplanet or the sight of an astrophysical object such as a close binary star system . Corresponding images are usually marked as "artistic representation" or with a similar formulation. With regard to the speculative part of the representation, the (realistic) space art distinguishes itself on the one hand from the pure scientific illustration and on the other hand from the science fiction art. There are also flowing transitions to representations from the areas of reconstructed historical geology and paleontology and the speculative representations from the area of exobiology .

Mars rover

A separate category is the representation of planned spaceships and missions or of space probes in use, for example a Mars rover in a Martian landscape or a planned space station.

Earthrise (earth rise from lunar orbit)

Also at Space Art must be counted photographic works, such as the pictures taken by astronauts - known example is during the Apollo missions pictures taken Blue Marble and Earthrise - but also astronomical images that shaped by image combination, filtering and color in a way that goes far beyond photographic raw data, for example the famous Pillars of Creation based on images from the Hubble Space Telescope .

The Space Art artists are organized internationally in the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA) founded in 1982 . Since 2000, the IAAA has presented the Lucien Rudaux Memorial Award annually in memory of the space art artist Lucien Rudaux .

Well-known Space Art artists

literature

  • Michael Carroll: Space Art: How to Draw and Paint Planets, Moons, and Landscapes of Alien Worlds. Watson-Guptill Publications, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8230-4876-2 .
  • Ron Miller: The Art of Space: The History of Space Art, from the Earliest Visions to the Graphics of the Modern Era. Voyageur Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-7603-4656-3 .

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