Week 9: Space and Art

The final topic of this class is space and art, which perfectly integrate all the previous topics together. Like what Professor Vesna mentioned in the introduction lecture video, the space is a subject which contains nanotech, robotics, mathematics and so on. Humans live and civilize in this planet for thousands of years and they have always been curious about the sun, the moon; they even make theories and beliefs into these spatial objects. However, people did not realize the space from a scientific perspective until Nicolaus Copernicus proposed his heliocentrism, a model in which the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. This model was created in Copernicus' careful mathematical calculations of the movements of the sun and planets. Copernicus' contributions to astronomy brought people into a new scientific perspective of space.

Heliocentric System 

I am particularly interested in the connections between art and space. Like I said before, space is a combination of math, nanotech and other advanced technologies. However, I think the most important thing for space exploration is the creative idea but not technology. According to Professor Vesna, science fiction writers offer visions and ideas for scientists to start and develop their scientific experiments. For example, the idea of artificial satellite was firstly depicted in a short story "The Brick Moon" by American author Edward Everett Hale. Nowadays, there are hundreds of artificial satellites are revolving around the Earth like the international space station. It is remarkable that the idea and models that once were only described in science fictions have already become realized in the real world.

The International Space Station

In addition to the influences of art on science, spatial science also has major impacts on art. The famous Hubble Space Telescope was invented and launched to provide visual image resources for scientific researches. It was named after astronomer Edwin Hubble in memory with him. Not only does Hubble Space Telescope contribute to scientific research, but also the pictures it takes are significant to art. The images it takes are so beautiful and special that people connect them to their imaginations such as the image of Horsehead Nebula that was snapped to mark Hubble's 23rd birthday.

Horsehead Nebula

Resources:

1. "Space intro." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Lecture Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzN08A6UBoo#t=20

2. "The Brick Moon." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brick_Moon

3. HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. http://www.howstuffworks.com/space-station5.htm

4. "copernicus: looking at motions of the moon." Madame Pickwick Art Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. http://madamepickwickartblog.com/2012/12/copernicus-looking-at-motions-of-the-moon/

5. "Hubble Telescope Snaps Stunning Image of the Horsehead Nebula." Latest News. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Hubble-Telescope-Snaps-Stunning-Image-of-the-Horsehead-Nebula-346996.shtml

6. "8 space pt1 1280x720." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Lecture Video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZIqTR332l8#t=312