Week 9: Space + Art
3 June 2018
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| Copernicus' Sun Center of Universe Theory |
This week we wrapped up our discussions with the ultimate medium of exploration, space. Space exploration and art combine all aspects of science and technology, and Professor Vesna really highlights that fact in her lecture this week. I especially enjoyed learning about Nicolaus Copernicus, and his ideas on the location of the sun. Although primitive, his hypothesis that the sun was the center of the universe really jumpstarted the mathematical understanding of our solar system, which was incredible for that time period (Vesna 2013). I personally view space as a beautiful work of art and a wonderful collaboration between scientific and artistic endeavors.
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| "photo of nothing" - Hubble Space Telescope |
With recent advancements in technology, humans were able to launch the Hubble Space Telescope, which has gifted us with some of the most incredible images of galaxies and star systems. These images have helped shape the advancement of a lot different scientific discoveries. I personally enjoy the “photo of nothing," a controversial photo which actually turned out to be the first photo ever taken so far back into our Universe and introduced an entirely new side of astronomy (MacDonald 2016). A lot of the pictures taken from this telescope are used for posters and paintings on walls across the world, but the long reaching impact of space exploration and the use of these images is still being understood today. With the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2020, we can hope for even more amazing advancements in the upcoming years (Lewin 2018). Space has a huge amount of information yet to be discovered, and is the one frontier that could use much more funding and support. I personally believe space will give us the best understanding of our true purpose on earth once we learn more of its secrets.
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| "A rose made of galaxies" - Hubble Space Telescope |
References
“CODED UTOPIA.” Continental Drift, 18 May 2009, brianholmes.wordpress.com/2007/03/27/coded-utopia/.
Costa, Victor O. “What Is the Historical Significance of Nicolaus Copernicus' Work?” Quora, 4 Oct. 2017, www.quora.com/What-is-the-historical-significance-of-Nicolaus-Copernicus-work.
Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers, spaceart.org/leonardo/vision.html.
Lewin, Sarah. “NASA Delays Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Until 2020.” Space.com, Space.com, 27 Mar. 2018, www.space.com/40102-james-webb-space-telescope-launch-delay-2020.html.
MacDonald, Fiona. “This 1995 Hubble Photo Changed Astronomy Forever.” ScienceAlert, 3 Oct. 2016, www.sciencealert.com/this-1995-hubble-photo-changed-astronomy.
“Top 100 Images.” ESA/Hubble | ESA/Hubble, www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100/.
Vesna, Victoria. “8 Space pt1 1280x720.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 July 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=442&v=6ZIqTR332l8.
It's amazing that we launched Hubble just 28 years ago. Thanks to Hubble, we've learned so much about the universe in the past 28 years. Moreover, it has inspired a generation of artists and scientists like myself. I find it fascinating that with all of the advancements in technology, we still don't know what's truly out there in the universe.
ReplyDeleteSpace is an unexplored territory that has left so much to our imagination. I think space art is much more prevalent in our world because we don't know so much about it. We turn to artists' imagination to paint in the large gaps in our knowledge about space, universe, and life outside of earth.