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Dr. Gerard van Belle

@fringedoctor.bsky.social

Active astronomer, intrepid interferometrist, doting dad, happy hubby, heuristic homebrewer, lapsed pilot, former Director of Science at Lowell Obs. Asteroid 25155 van Belle.

489 Posts839 Follower393 Folgt
Don Davis@ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 3d ago

51 years ago I painted a trio of Viking related works for NASA HQ including the widely reproduced one of the landing on Mars. I have reimagined the Landing portrayal in updated form using digital methods of visualization and painting. I chose the same angle but with reality replacing anticipation.

This oil painting portrays the Viking 1 landing on Mars, which appeared in countless publications. The story of this work is relayed in an earlier post and is shown here for comparison with the new portrayal of this very view, showing the event as it would have appeared. This 1975 anticipatory painting was done with oils on a gesso smoothed 16 X 20 canvas panel, using traditional art methods including a tracing paper guide featured earlier. This work shows in retrospect my ideal of the 'spirit of space art', showing something of a summary of what is known of the subject while conveying what it is about the subject's known or theorized attributes that I find visually compelling. The new digital painting updates that visual impression with one based on our current knowledge. The new digital work was also done at the same size as this one was for possible printing purposes, 16 by 20 inches at 300 DPI. #Sciart In 1976 the pair of Viking spacecraft orbiter/lander combos were sent to Mars. Before Viking, Mars was still largely a place of our imaginations, an unknown that we wrote stories about then studied from Earth and space. The dominance of cratered terrain on the portions of Mars photographed by Mariners 4, 6 and 7 gave an initially Lunar impression of that world, which changed during the development of the Viking lander after Mariner 9 revealed the planet. The first landing was aimed for a flat flood plain, judged as a decent place to search for life. The landing date was July 4, however the intended site appeared too rough for comfort in the high quality orbiter photos, causing the landing to wisely be delayed. A smoother site further 'down stream' was found using photo and radar data. The landing proceeded quite nominally, a magnificent achievement that apparently accounted for what it had to and made it the first time. The first photo from the surface was a look at a footpad to see how solid the 'footing' appeared. Then a moderate resolution panorama of the surroundings was obtained, first showing the rocks, hills, dunes-and bright sky. The latter was my biggest surprise as a space artist. The adjustments to the color balance of the later photos were gradually narrowed down. The ubiquitous dust is planet wide, suspended in the air and coloring the sky a luminous tan ochre. This digital painting shows the view a meter above the surface seeing the lander briefly kicking up dust less than a second before touchdown with the footpads 1.4 meters high. The landing rockets were designed with many nozzles to disturb the surroundings as little as possible. The nearby disturbed dust resembles in color that of the sky. We are 6 meters away from the center of the lander. field of view is 60 degrees, we are looking Northwest with the Sun and Earth off the frame to the left. This is a digital art update of the pre mission oil painting I did for NASA HQ 1n 1975. #Sciart
ESO@eso.org · 3d ago

Unusual asteroid unmasked! 🪨 Using our VLT in Chile & the Large Binocular Telescope in the US, astronomers have resolved the shape of (44) Nysa, a peculiar asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. They revealed a structure unlike anything observed before! 🔭 🧪 📹 ESO/K. Minker et al. 1/2

Jason Wright@astrowright.bsky.social · 2w ago

I testified before a PA House committee about the PSETI Center and got asked about inspiring a new generation of kids to be scientists: www.facebook.com/watch/?v=134...

1.3K views · 12 reactions | Today, the House Communications and Technology Committee held an informational meeting on how modern communications systems, data integration and sensor technologies improve our ability to identify and analyze anomalous signals and objects. During the hearing, I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Jason Wright, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University, how we can inspire more young people to pursue careers in science, technology and space exploration. It reminded me of growing up and attending school with Col. Mike Fincke, whose journey led him to become a NASA astronaut. Encouraging the next generation to dream big and pursue careers in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) is critical to maintaining Pennsylvania's and America's leadership in innovation, research and discovery. | PA State Rep. Valerie Gaydos

Today, the House Communications and Technology Committee held an informational meeting on how modern communications systems, data integration and sensor technologies improve our ability to identify...

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samuel mehr@mehr.nz · 2w ago

the most realistic scene in Jurassic Park is when two scientists make a questionable decision — traveling to an undisclosed location with a strange man — on the promise of three years of modest funding

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 2w ago

The first glimpse of the Martian surface was long anticipated. Bonestell's art dominated ideas of what Mars was like, basically the desert Southwest with most air absent. The idea of a dark blue sky on Mars persisted in space art until that morning. Here are those first looks at the Martian surface.

Top: the first view of the Martian surface, which appeared in slow steps left to right as the data came in. They wanted first thing to know if the lander was on solid ground and not too buried, sinking etc. The imaging sequence started 25 seconds after landing and continued for 5 minutes as the camera scanned a vertical line at a time moving to the right to scan the next. Having the orbiter relay the data took another 20 minutes. At left a brightening in the image can be seen that intensifies then fades, followed by a darkening that soon goes away. That represents a kind of record of the dust kicked up by the landing that brightened the field of view, then the shadow of the dust cloud briefly darkened the scene. The prominent angular rock near upper center is about 10 cm (4 inches) across. This first peek reassured everyone that the lander was on solid ground. A little dirt kicked up by the lander rockets can be seen pooled in the footpad. Bottom: 6 minutes after landing the second photo was obtained, a lower resolution 300 degree wide panorama of the surroundings taking in the scene in 9 minutes. At once the character of the scenery showed its distinctive nature, rocky and lightly even ground with small drifts and patches of lighter fine dust. The presence of dust in the atmosphere brought a brightness to it that was not anticipated, as an artist that was the major revelation I felt when looking over the scene. The atmospheric density was known to be like Earth's at 40 kilometers or 130,000 feet, so any noticeable blue sky brightness should only be evident near the horizon. In reality, the eternal presence of wind blown dust makes the sky a luminous version of the color of the ubiquitous surface dust, especially in the quarter of the sky near the Sun. Suddenly rendered dated were all those paintings by Bonestell, Pesek and others which were done between the times of the Mariner missions and the Viking landings, showing interpretations of known features but … I had my Polaroid SX-70 camera with me when just after the landing I was suddenly escorted from the press area into into the imaging team room, hastily badged and plopped in front of some of the many monitors in the area which steadily unveiled the first two looks at the Martian surface. No journalists were there dur to JPL PR department policy, but I got a few photos and a sound recording of the excited chatter of the geologists seeing Mars revealed. "Look at the exposure on that S_O_B" I remember hearing when the prominent rock appeared. Then the President called in his congratulations which went over the PA system. A highlight of my life, onr of several instances where I was in the Coolest Place in the world at that moment. My carefully obtained Polaroid from a monitor in the Imaging team area, at the conclusion of the introductory scanning of the first photo obtained of the surface of Mars.
Dr. Jessie Christiansen@aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

ANOTHER JOB AD! #jobs #exoplanets #aas248 NExScI is advertising for a postdoc to come and join our fabulous team in sunny SoCal. The role involves both programmatic support and independent science research, so it's perfect for someone thinking about a career at NASA!!! aas.org/jobregister/...

Postdoctoral Scholar - NExScI | American Astronomical Society

Job Summary Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. IPAC,...

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Don Davis@ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 2mo ago

For the new Planetarium show in Sweden's 'Universium', 'Once Upon The Moon', I made new texture maps of the Moon for their Lunar history sequence. Here is my animated presentation of those maps with added material showing milestones over Lunar Geologic time. #Sciart vimeo.com/1197028121

The Moon Over Time

The appearance of the Earth's Moon in several stages of its long history. This is established by Lunar samples provided from different regions undergoing widely separated changes over time. The main e...

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