At first glance, this thumbnail of a Moon rock looks like chocolate chip cookie batter. Oh yumm! Can you imagine? The moon is made entirely of chocolate chip cookie batter Can the Moon really be made of chocolate chip cookie batter? When the astronauts walked the surface, it looked pretty hard. Definitely not soft. Well, […]
One more week in the Tribune Tower. Next Friday, we move. Word around is that right after we move, the entire building is being gutted. Right away. We aren’t allowed to come back. The following Monday we immediately go to work in the Prudential. We are to NEVER COME BACK TO THE TOWER EVER. FOREVER […]
The reality of space. Real objects. Real textures. Thousands of miles away, images brought back to Earth. To our computer screens. I love the caption for this photo. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft obtained this unprocessed image on Dec. 12, 2011. The camera was pointing toward Saturn’s moon Dione from approximately 76,344 miles (122,864 kilometers) away. A […]
Type a search into Google for “Where is the next…” and it will auto-complete your search with three suggestions: Solar eclipse World Cup Olympics All three are global events. Large global events. Although aren’t solar eclipses more of a local event? Each eclipse occurs in only one spot of the world. The Great American Eclipse […]
The most important command given to Neil Armstrong was to make sure he collected moon rocks as soon as he landed on the Moon. Just moments after stepping onto the moon and saying, “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Armstrong then took a purse-sized pouch out of his spacesuit’s pocket and […]
The Pluto flyby is incredible! NEW! Enjoy this #Pluto flyby video, made with data from our historic #PlutoFlyby. pic.twitter.com/viHjvnfXw6 — NASA New Horizons (@NASANewHorizons) July 14, 2017 I WANT TO LIVE ON PLANET PLUTO. Yes, I am calling it a planet, because it is PLANET AWESOME. If you could live anywhere on Pluto, where would […]
Arriving at my desk this morning, these stored printouts had fallen out of their envelope. They are printouts of the surface of Pluto. Last year I printed these strips with the intention of wrapping them around objects in public spaces. Everyday objects, like poles and branches, would be transformed into the surface of Pluto! Last […]
If the moon appears so big near the horizon, why does the moon seem so small up in the sky? Answer: the sky. We take our sky for granted, but it’s actually really huge. All that space around the moon makes it appear small, only because it’s surrounded by this immensely vast sky. Context […]
Giant alien robots invade Chicago! Death rays shoot out of their eyes. The campy setup makes for a great B-movie sci-fi thriller poster. What could be more fun? Swap out the killer robot from Venus; and put in a giant mole with death rays shooting out from his eyes! The poor Akora fennec fox […]
A worm dressed in an astronaut uniform watches a rocket blast off into outer space. Totally crazy. This is the final poster in this series of three illustrating the etymology of science fiction (view webcomic). The Worm character needed to be the main character for this final poster. Quite a challenge, since the worm is […]
