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Simeon Schmauß

@stim3on.bsky.social

dabbling with photogrammetry, astrophotography, GIS and more... https://sschmaus.github.io/links/

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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
Riding With Robots@ridingrobots.bsky.social · 5d ago

These kinds of Cassini views are visually and mentally stunning. This particular one is an outstanding candidate for use in answering the "where are the stars?" question. I also just checked, and yes if you crop in a bit it makes an especially beautiful phone wallpaper.

Gordan Ugarković@ugordan.bsky.social · 5d ago

Cassini wide-angle camera RGB view of Titan in Saturn's shadow taken on 2009-11-30. A certain Dave Bowman could have made a comment about the number of stars visible. Full quality image available at flic.kr/p/8HmgV9

Extremely long, 560 second exposures in each of the 3 RGB filters were needed to catch the faint illumination of the moon with light scattered by the rings and Saturn's atmosphere. As a result, the background starfield is prominently visible as well. The stars show up as streaks because Cassini was tracking Titan the whole time. Distance to Titan: 2.4 million km Phase angle: 81 deg
Andrea Luck@andrealuck.bsky.social · 5d ago

CNSA’s Tianwen-1 mission has recently released new images of Mars, including this view of the Charitum Montes in the southern rim of Argyre Planitia. Full size 6K & more info: flic.kr/p/2ssvpEm Image Processing: Andrea Luck Raw data: CNSA/CLEP/PEC/MoRIC Mosaic of 4 images 2025-12-04 235km altitude

A satellite view of the Charitum Montes mountain range, with rusty brown peaks and ridges contrasting against more soft cream coloured plains. Bright seasonal frost blankets much of the slopes in varying intensity altering the usual rusty reddish colour of mars and contrasting with dark valleys and scattered impact craters.
Askaniy@askaniy.bsky.social · last wk.

True color processing of Mars: ten years apart, Hubble and Psyche captured roughly the same region. You can see Sinus Sabaeus, with Arabia Terra above and the South Polar cap below.

Planet Mars in true colors HST, 2016-05-12 05:39—05:49 UTC NASA / STScI / Askaniy AnpilogovPlanet Mars in true colors Psyche, 2026-05-16 21:42—21:44 UTC NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / Askaniy Anpilogov
Don Davis@ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 2w ago

Mars as imagined just before the landing. This painting, one of a trio done for NASA HQ, ended up being used for the JPL landing press badge. What a thing that was to see when I arrived and signed in!

This painting was, as is much of Astronomical/Space art, a summary of what was known of the subject as well as what about it I found visually appealing. Low gravel bar ridges and dunes dominate the scene, based on the original landing site chosen in Chryse Planita. A suggestion of sedimentary layering is shown in the lower right foreground knoll. The sky was portrayed as blue, making the assumption that it would be like a Stratospheric altitude Earthly sky. Earth is the daylight star just to the left of the lander. The aeroshell on it's parachute from which the lander was dropped drifts downwind in the distance to the left. The reference materials I had available then were a step or two short of how the lander actually appeared, with the biggest difference being the lack of the rubbery fabric covers over the propellent tanks. #SciartThe press badge issued to media at the JPL press area. The last appearance of the Mars of old based on imagination and educated guesswork. This badge is now among my treasured trophies.
Andrea Luck@andrealuck.bsky.social · 2mo ago

SW Bar 3 - Star-forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud by JWST Full size & more info: flic.kr/p/2sjz2UL Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/j.Roger/Andrea Luck CC BY 2025-06-17 NIRCam F444W, F360M, F335M, F300M, F212N, F200, F187N, F150W PI: Julia Christine Roman-Duval

A glowing orange-red nebula swirls around a bright central cavity, resembling a whirlpool or a rose. Wisps of blue-white gas drift across the lower left. Countless stars and galaxies sparkle against the dark background.
Thomas Appéré@thomasappere.bsky.social · 2mo ago

De superbes polygones de dessiccation photographiés par le rover Curiosity hier après-midi (sol 4928). Cette structure sédimentaire se forme lorsqu'un sédiment argileux (de la boue) se dessèche et se contracte au fur et à mesure que l'eau s'évapore. 🧪🔭 1/2

Image en noir et blanc d'un terrain martien recouvert de structures polygonales. Des bandes claires et parallèles sont également visibles.
Paul Byrne@theplanetaryguy.com · 2mo ago

New paper alert! tl;dr: parts of what we thought were the oldest rocks on Venus might in fact be among the youngest. This story involves the "tessera" on Venus, which is some of the weirdest stuff in the Solar System. A thread:

Tessera on Venus, seen with radar backscatter imagery and a colour stretch that goes from rough (yellow) to smooth (purple). Normally, radar imagery is shown in greyscale, but that's BORING