Black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... black... small pale dot... black... black... black...

January 28, 2012 8:03 AM

Astronomical... the solar system in book form
posted by fearfulsymmetry (24 comments total)

somewhere a tree is shrugging it's limbs.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 8:11 AM on January 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

See also the ebook version (previously).
posted by obvious at 8:21 AM on January 28, 2012

I love how on the PDF that indexes what page & volume each planet is on shit starts getting real right after Staurn in terms of the vast gulf of space. The Sun through Saturn are all in the first three volumes of a 12 volume set. Uranus comes along three volumes later, and then an impressive four volume stretch until Neptune. I do appreciate that Pluto is given a volume. Planet/Planetoid controversy be damned, I still say it's a classy way to mark the end of our cosmic neighborhood.
posted by KingEdRa at 8:24 AM on January 28, 2012

It's quiet and beautiful, and I think it illustrates the enormous distance between celestial bodies very well, and in a way I've never seen it done. Meditative indeed. I just love this. (Also, printing this on demand is smart.)
posted by heyho at 8:26 AM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

meh. I prefer a much less defeatist view...such as this one, that reminds us that there's a fuckton more to our solar system than just 8, 9, or 10 'planets'
posted by sexyrobot at 8:34 AM on January 28, 2012 [3 favorites]

does your kid love astronomy? do you hate him? then this makes the perfect gift.
posted by camdan at 8:35 AM on January 28, 2012 [8 favorites]

meh. I prefer a much less defeatist view...such as this one, that reminds us that there's a fuckton more to our solar system than just 8, 9, or 10 'planets'

I'm not sure I can agree with that description of a handful of asteroids and moons that have less mass altogether than the Earth.
posted by straight at 8:43 AM on January 28, 2012

and much much more surface area.
posted by sexyrobot at 8:47 AM on January 28, 2012

Kuiper belt = volumes 9 to 14
Oort cloud around volume 15316
Alpha Centuri would be on the first page or so of volume 85238

And for the latter you'll need approx 2km of shelf space

(you're welcome to check my math)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:52 AM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure I can agree with that description of a handful of asteroids and moons that have less mass altogether than the Earth.

Well, why should we value the opinion of an object that has only 10^-21 times the mass of the moon?
posted by benito.strauss at 11:04 AM on January 28, 2012 [4 favorites]

It reminds me of the New Mexico solar system model or the Australian solar system drive. Only at least with this, you can flip to the back and find out the ending.
posted by frimble at 11:48 AM on January 28, 2012

Surely this is not done with so much black printing on white paper? Using black paper and just, I don't know, silkscreening? white on those few pages with something on them, would be a better use of materials. I'm curious from the production side of it.
posted by rikschell at 11:54 AM on January 28, 2012

Make sure to check out the other Miska Henner works. No Man's Land - just open it and go.
posted by Xoebe at 12:30 PM on January 28, 2012

I bought the audiobook of this the other day. I think it's Marcel Marceau, but the package just says "Blank CD-R, bulk".
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 1:01 PM on January 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

What Your Favorite Map Projection Says About You

What *this* map would say about you is probably that you suffer from some kind of morbid Lovecraft style fear of the vastness of the cosmos and wish to inflict it on others.
posted by Artw at 1:50 PM on January 28, 2012 [3 favorites]

Well, why should we value the opinion of an object that has only 10-21 times the mass of the moon?

Mad burn, Pluto. Mad burn.
posted by camdan at 1:55 PM on January 28, 2012

wow. great post.
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 3:57 PM on January 28, 2012

Here's the perfect snack to eat while you read this.
posted by gamera at 7:13 PM on January 28, 2012

Um, link.
posted by gamera at 7:16 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is: only a teeny tiny amount. Only a teeny tiny amount more black.
posted by argonauta at 8:01 PM on January 28, 2012

gamera, those are beautiful. And just $50 for all of them.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:20 PM on January 28, 2012

And just $50 for all of them.

For that much you think they could at least have thrown in Pluto.
posted by gamera at 9:41 PM on January 28, 2012

It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is: only a teeny tiny amount. Only a teeny tiny amount more black.

None more black.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:01 AM on January 29, 2012

Obligatory.

(We crawl on our knees towards our doom.)
posted by bright cold day at 3:42 PM on January 31, 2012