Tag: Outer space

Here's where we live in the vast universe: Earth -> Solar System -> Local Interstellar Cloud -> Local Bubble -> Orion-Cygnus Arm -> Milky Way Galaxy

Crop a fireworks grand finale photo tight to the center and it looks exactly like a planet exploding.

In 2006, I photographed spilled gumballs in a Chicago alley. In 2025, I asked AI to identify them. Not one got it right.

They say winter is cold and dreary, but that’s only if you’re not out there flying an icicle through the cosmos.

We almost have a Full Moon and the Summer Solstice on the same day! The tricky part of matching up a Summer Solstice and a Full Moon is that the Summer Solstice changes days every year. 6/20 or 6/21 or…

Jawas on Mars?

Most people think Buzz Aldrin's first words were "Magnificent desolation." However, NASA's transcript says, "Magnificent definition". Which is it?

What are the words Neil Armstrong said right after his famous "one small step" phrase?

For the first time ever, a Mars rover will be recording the sounds of Mars. The rover named Perseverance has two microphones. One microphone is for capturing sounds when it shoots laser beams at rocks (seriously). The other microphone will…

NASA is willing to pay $25,000 to any company to bring back samples of the Moon. Dust or rocks. Only $25,000? NASA is expecting some private company to go to the Moon, get some rocks, bring it safely back to…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

  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…

  [button link=”http://spudart.deviantart.com/art/Science-fiction-is-totally-cool-589672191?purchase=print” size=”large” color=”orange”]» Art prints and canvas available[/button] 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…

  [button link=”http://spudart.deviantart.com/art/Science-fiction-is-Knowledge-invention-589673191?purchase=print” size=”large” color=”orange”]» Art prints and canvas available[/button] 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…

  [button link=”http://spudart.deviantart.com/art/Science-fiction-is-Knowledge-fiction-589672726?purchase=print” size=”large” color=”orange”]» Art prints and canvas available[/button] Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy is always one of the top results when googling for vintage sci-fi posters. The design of this poster fit exactly what I needed for my…

Amazing the stuff you’ll find online. While looking at NASA documents for a friend’s birthday, I came across this spiky ball contraption used by NASA in 1968. Any guess what this could be? Oversized foot massager? Giant mace-ball weapon? Colossal doggie…

40 years ago today on January 2, 1976, NASA released a 60-page Graphics Standards Guide. It’s awesome to see the design of the worm logo standing the test of time (despite the fact that NASA retired the worm logo in…

If you could invent a country, what would you come up with? How about a country on another planet or another moon? The Saturn moon Enceladus has been in the news lately, as NASA is flying the Cassini probe over…

Printouts of moon rocks are being found across downtown Chicago. On the back of each printout reads: You Found a Moon Rock! This printout is the exact same size of an actual lunar sample brought back from the surface of…

While going through my photos, this particular photo of July 4th fireworks reminded me of constellations in the sky. Here’s an animated gif of several photos together. Here the constellation twinkles.

Since I’ve been working with constellations in my art, I did some research to see what other people are doing. Here are 16 photos tagged with constellation.

The textures of the nebulas play very nicely with the urban textures. The rust texture on a garbage can looks just like a nebula cloud. What is so large in outer space is mimic’ed on something so small as a…

I had a feeling something was going to happen while I was carrying around a eight-foot long print of the Carina Nebula.

What is the perfect snack to enjoy while watching the moon turns red and slowly disappears? I found myself pondering this question while sitting on my back porch watching this rare celestial event. Digging through the pantry, M&M’s became the…

If you ask “Where is the sun?” to Wolfram Alpha, you get a cool astronomy diagram! In my case, I had to add on “in Chicago”, because Wolfram Alpha thought I was in Florida, based on our internet provider at…