Space Art

[dirkterrell]

Here is a new piece I've been working on recently:

[Vance]

Any inside scoop on what the Mars Rover found up there that's "historical"?
Did they find some microscopic fossil remains of something perhaps?

[dirkterrell]

Any inside scoop on what the Mars Rover found up there that's "historical"?
Did they find some microscopic fossil remains of something perhaps?

Not being on the team, I don't have any more knowledge of what they found than anyone else. I will say that the Mars people have a history, in my eyes, of exaggerating things a little too much so I'm not holding my breath in anticipation. Unlike many, I don't forget all the things in the past that have turned out to bite the people who make claims like this (e.g. the Viking landers soil experiments that indicated life but turned out to be caused by elevated levels of peroxides in the soil, the whole "arsenic life" thing that turned out to have an embarrassingly simple mundane explanation that should have been explored before running to the press about a historical discovery, etc.) NASA is really bad about this sort of thing. We'll see what they have to say at the American Geophysical Union meeting in a couple of weeks. I'd bet it has something to do with organic molecules.

[Ghosty]

Like those microscopic "filament/bacteria tunnels" in that "Martian Meteorite", remember that one? That entire hullaballoo slowly faded away too, or any updates?...

http://www.space.com/11049-alien-lif...kepticism.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0512105730.htm

[dirkterrell]

Like those microscopic "filament/bacteria tunnels" in that "Martian Meteorite", remember that one? That entire hullaballoo slowly faded away too, or any updates?...

I think all of that is controversial at best. It may pan out. It may not. Right now we can't say for sure that non-biological processes couldn't produce those things.

[Ghosty]

I think this possible upcoming announcement is what Vance was askign about:

http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165513...ts-mum-for-now

http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012...ews/?hpt=hp_t3

No details yet though...

Scientists working on NASA's six-wheeled rover on Mars have a problem. But it's a good problem.
They have some exciting new results from one of the rover's instruments. On the one hand, they'd like to tell everybody what they found, but on the other, they have to wait because they want to make sure their results are not just some fluke or error in their instrument.

It's a bind scientists frequently find themselves in, because by their nature, scientists like to share their results. At the same time, they're cautious because no one likes to make a big announcement and then have to say "never mind."

The exciting results are coming from an instrument in the rover called SAM. "We're getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting," John Grotzinger, the principal investigator for the rover mission, says during my visit last week to his office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. That's where data from SAM first arrive on Earth. "The science team is busily chewing away on it as it comes down," says Grotzinger.

SAM is a kind of miniature chemistry lab. Put a sample of Martian soil or rock or even air inside SAM, and it will tell you what the sample is made of.

Grotzinger says they recently put a soil sample in SAM, and the analysis shows something earthshaking. "This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good," he says

[Ghosty]

Any inside scoop on what the Mars Rover found up there that's "historical"? Did they find some microscopic fossil remains of something perhaps?

Followup <bump>. Too bad, wish that one scientist wouldn't have used those words "One for the history books". Ends up being an exagerration, like Dirk predicted, oh well.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/...ntcmp=features

All good though, lots of research and data being accomplished. Keep up the space art!

[dirkterrell]

Followup <bump>. Too bad, wish that one scientist wouldn't have used those words "One for the history books". Ends up being an exagerration, like Dirk predicted, oh well.

I'm obviously not surprised. I'm sure it's an interesting result in a scientific sense but, in my experience, mission people seem seem too often to have an elevated sense of their importance, and that probably leads to these exaggerated statements.

In less exaggerated news, I have a new painting of Kepler-47:

[dirkterrell]

Here's a new one:

[Ghosty]

WHOA! Ok, I think I've found the one finally, lol.

[dirkterrell]

Our discovery of Kepler-64 (aka PH1) made the top 10 list of science stories in 2012:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/28/tech/i...html?hpt=hp_c2

[FZRACE97]

Would a planet's orbit in a binar star system be stable enough
for life to evolve over millions and millions of years? I imagine the planet being
tugged around as the effects of each of the stars' gravity would cause
radical orbits.

[Snowman]

If we can find life in lakes under 2km of ice and less than 3000km away living next to volcanic vents at the bottom of an ocean, I don't think a little thing like an elliptical orbit is going to stop them...

[dirkterrell]

Would a planet's orbit in a binar star system be stable enough
for life to evolve over millions and millions of years? I imagine the planet being
tugged around as the effects of each of the stars' gravity would cause
radical orbits.

It depends on the circumstances. There are certainly orbits that are stable over billion-year timescales and within the habitable zone, far enough away that the gravity of the two stars looks essentially like one star but close enough not to be frozen.

[dirkterrell]

A new piece:

[FZjake719]

Awesome thread Dirk, just read through the whole thing. I know its late, but 'grats to you and your team on the discovery and such, and props to you for some fantastic artwork.

[dirkterrell]

Awesome thread Dirk, just read through the whole thing. I know its late, but 'grats to you and your team on the discovery and such, and props to you for some fantastic artwork.

Thanks, man.

[dirkterrell]

And another one:



I worked on this one over the holidays to finish up a 2013 calendar of space art. I've made that calendar available at Cafe Press if anyone is interested:

http://www.cafepress.com/dirkterrell.736920777

Note that it is an oversized calendar with each image 17"x11", so 17"x22" when hung on the wall.

[deadline]

I don't really do Space stuff... but here are a few of the better ones I did a while back.

[deadline]

[deadline]

and an abstract one... VERY OLD WORK. Maybe 10 years old...
I called it "The birth of the universe"

[dirkterrell]

Very nice.

[dapper]

Took this on the Pilgrimage, at the time of alignment. The center one was a bit more orange/red in real life, however, this picture will do.

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

About a year ago, we discussed the discovery of Kepler-16 here and there has been a lot of activity in the field of planets around binary stars. In a few weeks, a team that I am on is going to announce the discovery of a planet in a very cool star system. When I can talk about the details publicly, I'll post here about it. Since I've been working on a lot of art recently, I thought I'd start this thread to share some of it since there seems to be some interest in the topic.

A double sunset:



A view of the aforementioned Kepler-16:



and a view of a wide binary system with two stars of very different temperatures:



When we announce our discovery (currently planning on Oct 11), I'll post some paintings of that system.

Awesome work, as usual, Dirk! Looking forward to seeing more and hearing more!

Hey, do you know of any Realtors on these planets, 'cause I wanna move there!