by heehaw » Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:17 am
As an astronomer, I never much liked (or like) paintings showing 'imagined' appearances of systems, not even Chesley Bonestell. But it makes me think how incredibly lucky I am, that in my lifetime, so many celestial objects have gone from Bonestell imaginings to a crisp reality. We didn't even know the rotation of Mercury (indeed, we had it wrong) and now we have detailed images of the surface of the whole planet. I admit I liked the old imagined Venus (under those clouds the swamps and the dinosaurs) much better than the new, real, Venus (hell). Mars is OK, but not great. Radiation means people will never colonize anything in the solar system, ever. Treasure and preserve this Earth, folks!
As an astronomer, I never much liked (or like) paintings showing 'imagined' appearances of systems, not even Chesley Bonestell. But it makes me think how incredibly lucky I am, that in my lifetime, so many celestial objects have gone from Bonestell imaginings to a crisp reality. We didn't even know the rotation of Mercury (indeed, we had it wrong) and now we have detailed images of the surface of the whole planet. I admit I liked the old imagined Venus (under those clouds the swamps and the dinosaurs) much better than the new, real, Venus (hell). Mars is OK, but not great. Radiation means people will never colonize anything in the solar system, ever. Treasure and preserve this Earth, folks!