The sun and mars

May 19, 2007 3:28 PM

Mars as art and the sun as art.
posted by vronsky (20 comments total)

The Sun: scientifically, and now artistically, proven to be the most terrifying object in the Solar System.
posted by chrismear at 3:33 PM on May 19, 2007

Great stuff! Thanks, vronsky.
posted by psmealey at 3:38 PM on May 19, 2007

the most terrifying object in the Solar System

You forgot Grace Jones.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:43 PM on May 19, 2007

ah, the Mars art images are wonderful. The Arabia Dunes one reminds me of the lovely, intense blues and greens of Chrysocolla.
posted by nickyskye at 3:52 PM on May 19, 2007

Wonderful stuff—thanks, vronsky!
posted by languagehat at 4:01 PM on May 19, 2007

A couple of (mild) cavils about the Mars shots: many of the most striking are shown in false or enhanced color; and it would be better if the shots were available in size midway between the (small) enlarged and the (huge) full-resolution versions.

Kudos to vronsky and to NASA, in any event, for doing something like this.
posted by rob511 at 4:02 PM on May 19, 2007

Some amazing stuff to dig around and find in there.

best of soho

and this one.
posted by vronsky at 4:05 PM on May 19, 2007

Psh, I bet they're on the payroll of the Martian Board of Tourism.
posted by Citizen Premier at 4:12 PM on May 19, 2007

Ooh, I like the sun as art. Shows what a complete home-wrecker it could be if it wanted to.
posted by quin at 4:16 PM on May 19, 2007

I liked the mid-school 80s NASA logo a lot better, probably because I grew up with it.
posted by delmoi at 4:38 PM on May 19, 2007

Stuff of legends.

Thanks, vronsky.
posted by bru at 4:48 PM on May 19, 2007

And this one looks like a button straining against silk organza.
posted by vronsky at 5:09 PM on May 19, 2007

like a button straining against silk organza

*tee hee* You're naughty.
posted by nickyskye at 5:49 PM on May 19, 2007

I like Mars, I like art, I like this post.
posted by Mister_A at 6:58 PM on May 19, 2007

Beautiful! Thank you.
posted by holycola at 6:59 PM on May 19, 2007

The sun as tacky, new-age "art", more like it. There are awesome photos here, why did they have to add a silhouette of Stonehenge or a horrid Photoshop "water reflection" to them? They're beautiful as they are, now they just look like something you'd expect to see on a poster right next to one of airbrushed wolves or something.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:41 PM on May 19, 2007

Some of the pictures of Mars remind me of the more abstract color-based photos from the Earth From Above series.

(Specifically, Arabia Dunes reminds me of this one.)

(And uh, I've had a postcard of that Earth From Above photo up in my home for the past four years and it took me a really long time to find it on the website. I am not insane and spending all of my time searching esoteric photos. Wait, actually, I am.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:30 PM on May 19, 2007

Great photos. Thanks vronsky.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:19 PM on May 19, 2007

I, for one, welcome the day when NASA considers us adult enough to provide the images in real(istic) colors.

The universe is amazing ... without having to look like a box of crayons.
posted by Twang at 11:21 PM on May 19, 2007

The desert in Iran is amazingly, wierdly artful:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/144200main_image_feature_522_ys_full.jpg
http://bilddb.rb.kp.dlr.de/Bilder/jpeg300/223.jpg

Some of the neatest images can be seen in Google Earth flying around in SE Iran. (Get down near the surface, pan toward horizon, push forward.) Some dune formations remind me of H.R. Giger's art.

A lot of these are cool as well.

This one's from the ESA, another source:
http://narg.web.mcc.ac.uk/images/murzhuk_satellite_meris.jpg
posted by Twang at 11:49 PM on May 19, 2007 [1 favorite]