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CONTENTS
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Enter this code at www.astronomy.com/code
to gain access to web-exclusive content
32
Sky This Month
Predawn planetary sights.
MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND ALISTER LING
34
Star Dome and Paths of the Planets
RICHARD TALCOTT;
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY
66
Artist Information
5
grea
0 IN EVERY ISSUE
cosmic stceesnt
From the Editor 4
Astro Letters 5
of our timees Advertiser Index 65
JULY 2022
VOL. 50, NO. 7
6 40 ONLINE FAVORITES
TAKING HUMANITY VISIONS OF Go to www.Astronomy.com for info on the biggest
TO THE STARS OUR MILKY WAY news and observing events, stunning photos,
Space art celebrates the past The billions of stars in our informative videos, and more.
and envisions the future home galaxy present artists
of cosmic exploration. with infinite possibilities
ALDO SPADONI for transporting us to other
worlds. RON MILLER
18 News Ask Astro My Science
PAINTING THE 52 The latest
updates from
Archives
Answers to all
Shop
Perfect gifts for
SOLAR SYSTEM EXTRAGALACTIC the science your cosmic your favorite
and the hobby. questions. science geeks.
Astronomers deal with WONDERS
numbers and measurements, In the universe’s outer
but artists can show us the reaches, where telescopes
landscapes the data describe. fail us, artists can take over. Astronomy (ISSN 0091-6358, USPS 531-350) is published monthly by Kalmbach Media
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FROM THE EDITOR
Editor David J. Eicher
Through the gallery! Assistant Design Director Kelly Katlaps
EDITORIAL
Senior Editor Mark Zastrow
Production Editor Elisa R. Neckar
Senior Associate Editor Alison Klesman
Associate Editor Jake Parks
Last year I attended Associate Editor Caitlyn Buongiorno
Editorial Assistant Samantha Hill
the Spacefest meet-
ing in Tucson for ART
Illustrator Roen Kelly
the first time, where I met a Production Specialist Jodi Jeranek
number of astronaut friends CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
and also a world of astro- Michael E. Bakich, Bob Berman, Adam Block,
Glenn F. Chaple Jr., Martin George, Tony Hallas,
nomical artists. The meeting Phil Harrington, Korey Haynes, Jeff Hester, Alister Ling,
brings together many mem- Stephen James O’Meara, Martin Ratcliffe, Raymond Shubinski,
Richard Talcott
bers of the world’s leading
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
organization for space art, Buzz Aldrin, Marcia Bartusiak, Jim Bell, Timothy Ferris,
Members of the
International the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA). At Alex Filippenko, Adam Frank, John S. Gallagher lll,
Daniel W. E. Green, William K. Hartmann, Paul Hodge,
Association of the show, I came up with the idea of producing something that has Edward Kolb, Stephen P. Maran, Brian May, S. Alan Stern,
Astronomical Artists
paint their celestial
never been done before — an issue of Astronomy magazine solely James Trefil
visions at the famous devoted to the magnificence of the best current space art. You hold
Meteor Crater impact the result in your hands. Kalmbach Media
site, near Winslow, Chief Executive Officer Dan Hickey
Arizona. ALDO SPADONI
Many years ago, the magazine’s founder, Steve Walther, devised a Chief Financial Officer Christine Metcalf
slogan for our title that also served as a clarion call for of publishing Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing Nicole McGuire
Vice President, Content Stephen C. George
space art: “Man’s dreams of worlds unseen.” The magic of this art Vice President, Operations Brian J. Schmidt
is that it can carry us across vast distances of the universe to show Vice President, Human Resources Sarah A. Horner
Circulation Director Liz Runyon
us close-ups of places we will never see in person. Director of Digital Strategy Angela Cotey
Members of the IAAA have been paramount in creating those Director of Design & Production Michael Soliday
Retention Manager Kathy Steele
visions, and here we present 50 of the greatest recent works of art, Single Copy Specialist Kim Redmond
laid out for you to enjoy as if you were walking through a museum ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
gallery. Thanks go to Aldo Spadoni, the IAAA’s president, for help- Advertising Representative Kristi Rummel
Phone (608) 435-6220
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ASTRO LET TERS
Sci why? you left out the most important and definitive eighth
Yvette Cendes’ article, level — the one where we intercept a message from
“How to swallow aliens heading in our direction. The message would be
a star” (December simply: “Look what’s on the menu.” — Stuart Liebowitz,
2021), stood out Roseburg, OR
because while it was
informative, it was The power of art
her personal experi- Your March 2022 article, “When the Atomic Age met
ence that made it the Space Age,” does not give credit to the real inspi-
relatable. Describing ration of the ’50s: the artist and visionary Chesley
the middle-of-the- Bonestell. It was his creative and technical skill
night alert saying an published by Collier’s magazine that was distributed
image of a TDE was worldwide and first excited me in space travel. Who
ready to view, going can forget Bonestell’s incredible space structures and
Chesley Bonestell’s in depth about them, impressions of the planets of the solar system? I would
art, like this imagining then ending with what she sees on her screen and what encourage Astronomy readership to revisit Bonestell’s
of Saturn from the tasks lie ahead was a great way to add a glimpse of her astonishing futuristic visions and the products of his
surface of Titan,
helped ignite life into an amazing and informative article. Adding the pen and brush. — Chris Miles, Orlando, FL
the Space Age. fact that she was inspired by Carl Sagan’s Contact was a
CHESLEY BONESTELL
nice reminder that that sort of inspiration is an impor- From the editors: Chris, we hope you enjoy this special
tant catalyst to many people’s careers. I think it would issue on space art (including discussions of Chesley
be neat to see an article that focused on WHY astrono- Bonestell starting on pages 6, 18, and 40) and its power
mers do what they do and what inspired them to study to inspire and engage!
the cosmos! — Philip Ginn, Santa Fe, NM
Errata
A grim legacy In the January 2022 issue, we wrote that M55 (#82 on
I enjoyed Fred Nadis’ “When the Atomic Age met the list) was approaching us at “more than 100 miles per
the Space Age” (March 2022) and appreciated that he second (62 kilometers per second).” While 100 miles per
pointed out that Wernher von Braun’s first successful second is the correct figure, the conversion to kilometers
rocket, the V-2, led to 5,000 deaths in its target cities. should be 160 kilometers per second.
The beginning of the Space Age was tragic. Any mention
of this history ought to include the other victims: some In the image accompanying entry No. 48 on our January
We welcome
your comments 20,000 slave laborers who died building the V-2 under 2022 list of “Top 100 cosmic objects you must see,”
at Astronomy Letters, appalling conditions. Von Braun knew of the slaves Markarian 205 is the bright object directly below the
P.O. Box 1612, and their concentration camp horrors; at least once, he larger NGC 4313, not the target indicated by the arrow
Waukesha, WI 53187; calculated the number of slaves needed to make part of to its upper right.
or email to letters@ the manufacture process more efficient. We must reckon
astronomy.com . with this legacy. — Christopher Cokinos, Salt Lake City, UT In the February 2022 issue, the article “Fourth time’s the
Please include your
charm” stated that the mass of the MACS J0138 galaxy
name, city, state, and
country. Letters may How to announce aliens cluster was “about a billion times that of the Sun.” The
be edited for space I was somewhat amused by the seven levels of evidence cluster is in fact about a hundred trillion times the mass
and clarity. for the existence of alien life (March 2022). Clearly of the Sun.
Unlike the gas giants

URANUS Jupiter and Saturn,
the
solar system’s more STATS axis tilted nearly 100°
to the plane of the
distant ice giants have solar system, making
largely received Mass: 14.5 Earth masses it orbit the Sun not
the cold shoulder from like a spinning top,
robotic space- Equatorial diameter: 31,760 but more like a roll-
craft. But thanks to ing ball? No matter
a fortunate planetary miles the cause (the leading
A tilted world
alignment that occurs (51,120 km) theory is an ancient
N on one of the poles. And with north pole (with respect to rotation) is
only once every planetary collision)
175 years, NASA’s
ambitious Voyager Average temperature: we do know that this ,
2 –323 F (–197 C) unique orientation
mission flew by the Rotation period (day): gives Uranus the most
solar system’s sev- extreme seasons in
enth planet, Uranus, 17 hours 15 minutes (retrograd the solar system. One
in 1986. e) pole is bathed in
Like both its bloated Orbital period (year): constant sunlight
while the other is veiled
inner siblings, 84 Earth years
Uranus hosts a ring Moons: At least 27 moons in darkness for some
system, though it is 21 years at a time.
much fainter than Uranus’ magnetic
that of Saturn. The field is
I enjoyed “Cosmic Tour of the Venus you say the rotation is ret- the pole that sits north of the ecliptic. tilted some 60° relative also lopsided,
rings around Uranus
were initially dis- to its spin axis, so
covered in 1977 by in unprecedented the planet’s rotation
astronomers aboard detail. The mission twists
the Kuiper Airborne also uncovered 10
new moons and field lines into a bizarre its magnetic
Observatory, an corkscrew shape.
airplane equipped clocked the planet’s Another unresolv
with an infrared atmosphere zipping ed mystery about
telescope. But Voyager around the world Uranus is its structure
2 studied them at speeds approach . The blue-green
450 mph (725 km/h). ing hue of its swirling
Before continuing atmosphere (primar-
Planets” (December 2021), as it rograde but you don’t say its axis is So, regardless of a planet’s tilt, which
on to Neptune, Voyager ily made of hydrogen
2 also captured and helium) is the
informative images result of trace methane
of some of the ice gas, which more
giant’s largest moons: readily absorbs red
Titania, light. But as you ven-
Miranda, Umbriel, ture deeper beneath
Oberon, the planet’s cloud
and Ariel. tops, things get murkier.
that about 80 percent Scientists think
But no other craft of the planet exists
has
brought together various facts for tilted at 180 degrees. Is this differ- can range from 0 to 180 and is deter- visited Uranus since. in the form of hot
and dense mantle
ers composed of super-pr lay-
That’s disappointing, essurized
water, ammonia, and
considering all the methane fluids,
which surround a
mysteries the small core of icy rock.
The jury’s still out
planet still on that, however.
Maybe another mission
holds. Not to Uranus is
in order?
easy comparison. But I was left a ence something real or semantics? mined by the right-hand rule, which- least of
which: Why
is Uranus’
rotation
BELOW: Thanks to
Telescope obtained
adaptive optics, the
these
Keck
hemispheres of Uranus infrared views of the two
2004. The ice giant’s and its faint ring system in
images.
south pole is facing
left in both
bit confused by the statements that — Tom Wright, San Diego, CA ever pole is above the solar system’s
Uranus’ rotation is retrograde and plane is the north rotational pole. If Voyager 2 arrived
at Uranus in 1986,
returning views of
celeste orb with very
a
subtle features. Still,
the spacecraft ’s
instruments shed
light
its axis is tilted at 100 degrees. If Senior Associate Editor Alison you were to look downward from the
on myriad mysteries.
both are true, couldn’t I say with Klesman responds: That’s a great ecliptic at Uranus and Venus, based 22 ASTRONO MY
• DECEMBE R
2021
equal validity that no, the rotation question and does involve perhaps on this definition of their north pole
“Cosmic Tour
is normal and the axis is tilted at a bit of semantics: According to the and direction of rotation, both are of the Planets,”
80 degrees? After all, there’s no big official IAU definition, a planet’s rotating retrograde. December 2021
WWW. ASTRONOMY.COM 5
TAKING
HUMANITY
TO THE STARS
Space art celebrates the past and envisions
the future of cosmic exploration. BY ALDO SPADONI
FOR AS LONG AS the dream of human spaceflight has existed, artists have
been inspired to imagine and depict what such amazing journeys might
ADRIANNA
look like. Before the age of modern photography, explorers were frequently
ALLEN
accompanied by artists who created drawings and paintings of the unknown
Emanation
regions of the world to delight and inspire the public. This trend has
continued as the space artists of today work with the global astronomy Digital
community to create inspirational visions of space exploration. The Moon. Mars.
Jupiter. Saturn. Each
The modern era of space as Chesley Bonestell (1888– culminated in the Apollo lunar world calls to us,
begging us to explore
art began after World War II. 1986) played an important role landings from 1969 to 1972.
the wonders that
Rapid progress in aviation, in making space travel appear During this exciting time, await. We will become
rocketry, atomic energy, and real to the public. Bonestell’s there appeared to be no limits cosmic explorers. But
other technical advances made paintings exhibited a startling to what humanity could even as we extend our
the development of spacecraft realism, making it easy to accomplish in space. Seeing reach, we will always
hold our origin close
seem tangible. The U.S. believe they represented an the success of the American
to our hearts.
emerged from WWII as a actual glimpse of humanity’s space program, aerospace
global superpower with enor- spacefaring future. companies commissioned
mous technical and industrial Following the Soviet space art to promote bold
capacity. At the same time, sci- Union’s launch of Sputnik in visions of robust human
ence fiction stories focused on 1957, space art was strongly exploration throughout the
MOON SURFACE: PAVEL CHAGOCHKIN/DREAMSTIME
space adventures increased in influenced by humanity’s solar system.

popularity. Human spaceflight rapidly expanding efforts to But after the Moon land-
appeared to be just around the explore space. The space race ings, the pace of human
corner and space artists such between the USSR and the U.S. space exploration slowed
TA K I N G H U M A N I T Y TO T H E S TA R S
considerably. In the 1980s,

NASA’s space shuttle flew
for the first time, enabling MARILYNN FLYNN
limited human activity in Shamshu Sojourn
space to crewed operations
in low Earth orbit (LEO). Digital
These efforts ultimately led A couple hiking in the Shamshu region
to the establishment of the of Jupiter’s moon Io watches as a lava
International Space Station geyser sputters to life beyond the distant
(ISS). hills. Amazing vistas of cliffs and jumbled
terrain colored by sulfur compounds
While the prospects for
stretch before the space tourists, who
human exploration of the wear futuristic radiation-proof suits.
solar system dwindled,
robotic missions expanded
dramatically, with an
astounding record of success.
By 2022, every planet in the
solar system had been visited, humans travel, explore, live,
as well as numerous asteroids, and work in space. This kind
comets, and Kuiper Belt of art usually contains depic-
objects. And several robot tions of spacecraft, astro-
spacecraft are outbound into nauts, satellites, space
the depths of interstellar stations, habitats, and the
space, bearing messages associated hardware involved
from humanity. in human spacefaring.
Although humans have While there are a variety
not ventured beyond LEO of artistic styles that can be
since the Apollo Moon land- employed, many of the artists
ings, space visionaries perse- attracted to the demanding
vered, aided by space artists world of space exploration
who continued to create com- are realists. In other words,
pelling visions of robust their depictions are represen-
human spacefaring. tational and realistic. Many
Today, we are experiencing space artists choose to adopt
an exciting Second Golden a traditional “painterly” style,
Age of space exploration with where the brushstrokes are
the rise of commercial space- quite visible, yet the resulting
flight operations by a variety image is immediately recog-
of private companies. NASA nizable. Furthermore, realists
is now developing new launch generally aim to convey
vehicles and spacecraft for their subject matter in a
human space operations compelling and believable
beyond LEO. Ambitious plans manner. Photographic real-
are being created for human ism is merely one method mechanical drawing tech- media is alive and well in the
exploration on the Moon, of attaining this goal, while niques, a grasp of basic engi- world of space art. Artists
Mars, and beyond. The road other artists might choose neering principles, and the use a wide array of tools such
ahead remains challenging, a much more abstract ability to create effective as pencils, pens, markers,
but humanity is moving for- approach. astronomical backdrops for and paint to create their
ward, and space artists are The realist space artist the scene. All these are com- visions. However, a signifi-
helping to show the way. must master a variety of bined using artistic insight cant portion of space art has
Space art encompasses a skills to create convincing to create art that is aestheti- moved into the digital realm,
wide variety of subject matter, renditions of human space cally pleasing as well as tech- especially for those artists
but a significant portion of it exploration. These skills nically plausible. who specialize in depicting
focuses on envisioning how include perspective and The use of traditional hardware. Since real-world

hardware is now designed traditional hand-painting used by the global aerospace After all, the best space art
using 3D computer-aided techniques, 3D modeling industry to illustrate and always manages to convey
models and virtual reality and rendering can provide explain complex spacecraft a sense of wonder and the
tools, it’s only natural that excellent reference imagery design and mission propos- impending adventure that
artists should follow suit. to ensure that the scene als. Compelling art influ- awaits humanity as we set
The rapid development and perspective and lighting ences investors and the public sail upon the vast ocean
commercial availability of are correct for a given view. and helps fund the project. of space.
those powerful tools has Space art is frequently
enabled many new possibili- used to accurately document Aldo Spadoni is an accomplished illustrator, concept designer, and
ties for space artists. Even significant events in aero- aerospace engineer-futurist. He is also president and a fellow of the
when creating artwork using space history. It is extensively International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA).
MICHAEL CARROLL
Exploring Enceladus
Acrylic/digital
Future explorers drill through the ice to explore the
global seas of Enceladus. Here, a pressure dome keeps
water from erupting into the vacuum of space as an
astronaut digs for the precious resource.
CHRIS CALLE
Gemini IV Spacewalk
Oil
“ofThismyisview
a great painting …
of Ed White set
Astronaut Ed White performs America’s first spacewalk,
secured to the spacecraft with an umbilical line. Shaved
samples from some of the pieces of silver that astronaut
against the perfect, beautiful
Jim McDivitt carried with him on the Gemini 4 Mission have
been mixed into the oil paint for White’s space suit and cord.
blue Earth. [White] was having
so much fun he didn’t want to
get back in the spacecraft!
— Jim McDivitt, Gemini 4 Commander
“
PAT RAWLINGS
Family
Acrylic
Sojourner, the Mars Pathfinder rover
named after former slave and abolitionist
Sojourner Truth, receives a visit by a
descendant of its namesake, many years
after its mission’s end.
MARK MAXWELL
TETHERHAB 2021
Digital
A rotating tethered habitat orbits above an Earth-like
world. Using solar panels for power, the station is capable
of housing 100 people in a variable-gravity environment.
A spacecraft at lower left is returning from an exploratory
mission to the surface of the planet.
PETER
THORPE
The High
Frontier
Acrylic
A space colony
family gazes at
farmland in the end
cap of an O’Neill
cylinder — two
counter-rotating
cylinders. The
windows around
the farmland show
space outside,
while community
buildings sit in the
foreground.

TA K I N G H U M A N I T Y TO T H E S TA R S STEVEN HOBBS
Mars Station
Digital
An astronaut walks between two stations on the
martian moon Phobos. Meanwhile, a spacecraft
leaves the base for a Mars surface mission.

JUSMENA FONSECA
Sunset on Mars
Oil
Newly arrived Terrans settle down to view their
first sunset on Mars. The Sun is a welcome
reminder of home as it breaks through the dusty
sky, revealing a blue-tinged sunset.
“what
It is difficult to say
is impossible, for
the dream of yesterday is
the hope of today and
the reality of tomorrow.
— Robert H. Goddard,
“
physicist and rocketry pioneer
DOUG FORREST
Foot of the Ladder
Graphite pencil
On July 20, 1969, at 2:55 A.M. UTC, Neil Armstrong reported,
“I’m at the foot of the ladder.” He is once again on the ladder
in this artist’s concept. In just a few seconds’ time, Armstrong
will become the first human to set foot on the Moon.
NICK STEVENS
HOPE VASIMR at Jupiter
Digital
HOPE (Human Outer Planet
Exploration) is a design for a
vehicle that could take humanity
to the Jupiter system. The crew live
between the craft’s rotating liquid
hydrogen tanks, which provide
radiation shielding.
PRISCILLA THOMAS
Defiance
Oil
First debuting in 1966, the Soyuz rockets have
become the most frequently used launch vehicles in
the world. The mighty rocket leaves Earth for space
in another bone-shaking defiance of gravity.
MARK PESTANA
Artemis, Sister
of Apollo
Acrylic
As she collects lunar
samples near a conceptual
lander, the next human
to step on the Moon
pioneers a new phase
of exploration. A half-
century after the Apollo
era of heavy, cumbersome
spacesuits, new materials
and engineering have
enabled more flexibility,
endurance, and comfort.
PAINTING THE
Astronomers deal with numbers
and measurements, but artists
can show us the landscapes the
data describe. BY WILLIAM K. HARTMANN
PAINTERS HAVE PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT but underappreciated
role in our exploration of the worlds in our solar system.
Scientists tend to specialize in narrow aspects of reality — spectroscopy,
photos, petrology — all represented in terms of numerical measurements.
But what do these numbers mean in terms of the human experience?
It is artists who synthesize those results to visualize what each world is
truly like.
In the early 1900s, the was a leading special-effects
French artist and astronomy artist in Hollywood, having
popularizer Lucien Rudaux painted backdrops in famous DAVID A.
(1874–1947) published numer- films such as Citizen Kane. In HARDY
ous paintings showing surface 1944, the popular weekly LIFE Comet Lander
environments on our neigh- magazine published a series of
bor worlds, based on then- paintings by Bonestell, show- Digital
current scientific knowledge. ing the planet Saturn as seen An imaginary robotic
His 1937 book Sur les Autres from its various satellites. lander eclipses the
Mondes (On Other Worlds) Saturn’s largest moon, Sun as it fires retro-
included many such paint- Titan — which is larger than rockets in preparation
ings, some reproduced in the planet Mercury — pre- for touching down on
a comet. The comet’s
color. And thanks to the sented an interesting chal- surface, though icy,
efforts of a number of enthu- lenge. Astronomer Gerard appears dark due to
siasts including myself, Kuiper had recently con- a widespread coating
Rudaux’s book was repub- firmed earlier suspicions that of hydrocarbons. The
lished in 1990 in a facsimile Titan had a substantial atmo- image was designed
for the 2004 book
edition by the original Paris sphere. (It is, in fact, the only Futures: 50 Years
publisher, Larousse. moon in the solar system to in Space (Harper
Rudaux’s book enthused have one.) Bonestell saw the Design), by Hardy and
an American artist, Chesley opportunity to paint a moon- Sir Patrick Moore.
Bonestell (1888–1986), who scape without a black sky and
SOLAR SYSTEM
PAINTING THE SOL AR SYSTEM
produced a famous painting 1949, Bonestell illustrated a silver rocket and astronauts science-fiction author Jules
showing Saturn in a blue sky world-changing book, The on the Moon. (As astronomi- Verne is often quoted as writ-
over an icy landscape. Conquest of Space, with text cal artist and historian Ron ing, “Anything one man can
But the view from Titan by science popularizer Willy Miller has said, “That’s the imagine, other men can make
continued to challenge scien- Ley. The book’s paintings way rockets were supposed to real.” Bonestell’s paintings
tists as well as artists. Decades included new landscapes on look!”) Many of the engineers showed the dream and the
of scientific progress following various planets, created based and scientists who put the Apollo engineers made it a
Bonestell’s painting indicated on consultations with scien- Apollo astronauts on the reality.
that Titan’s atmosphere pro- tists during preparation of the Moon were inspired by that Ludek Pesek (1919–1999)
duces not a clear blue sky, but book. Its cover showed a sleek, book as teenagers. The great was another pioneer of astro-
a cloudy haze so thick that nomical art. His work is
Saturn might be rarely, if ever, widely known in Europe. The
visible from the surface. Czech artist was vacationing
This story is just one in Switzerland in 1968 when
example of the importance of the Soviet Union invaded
astronomical art. Scientists ERIKA A. MCGINNIS Czechoslovakia, prompting
publish their work in peer- Mauna Kea Observatory him to remain in Switzerland
reviewed journals, but astro- for the rest of his life. His
nomical realist painters Acrylic paintings, while mostly realis-
translate the results to show tic, sometimes included
Two of the many telescopes situated atop Mauna Kea in
what distant worlds would Hawaii sit beneath a beautiful sunset as the astronomers touches of whimsy. I was for-
look like if we could be there. stationed within anticipate clear skies for spectacular tunate to visit Pesek and his
Here’s another example: In viewing of the universe. This painting is the third in wife in Switzerland, and in
a series of images of U.S. observatories and part of a their home I noted a view of a
larger project the artist is currently working on.
lunar hillside showing a large
rock that had rolled toward
the viewer, leaving a visible
track behind it — but the
boulder appeared to have been
stopped in the foreground by
a tiny flower.
The artistic movement
started by Rudaux, Bonestell,
and Pesek might be called
astronomical realism. Each
painting (and this includes
terrestrial landscape paintings,
since Earth is a planet, too)
challenges the artist to depict
reality — not as it is expected
or as artists would like it to be,
but as it actually exists.
This triangular relation-
ship of nature, art, and sci-
ence is well demonstrated by
Earth’s blue sky. Its hue is
explained through Rayleigh
scattering — the preferential
scattering of blue light by
microscopic particles in the
atmosphere, discovered by
English scientist Lord
Rayleigh in the late 1800s. But
nearly 400 years earlier, the

GARRY L. HARWOOD
painter and scientist Leonardo been a problem from the start. Lunar Rille Formation
da Vinci pointed out in a As I witnessed while report-
booklet on painting that a ing for Astronomy in 1976, Oil
building or mountain in the NASA’s initial press release Fluid, high-temperature lava explosively erupts from a
distance has paler shadows landscape from the first suc- system of vents on the Moon’s surface some 2 billion
and bluer color than one in cessful martian lander, Viking years ago, while a young Earth eclipses the Sun in the
lunar sky. Such events carved out the sinuous rilles, or
the foreground. He concluded 1, showed — as then expected
lava channels, we observe today.
correctly that sunlit air adds — a blue sky. But after some
blue light. The greater the dis- hours, the Viking imaging
tance, the more blue light team realized that reddish
appears. Rayleigh worked out colors dominated not only the
the physics, allowing predic- landscape but also the sky.
tions about the blue light, but The problem arose from formations in lighting more because they might be scien-
long before he did, da Vinci incorrectly balancing blue like that on Earth, under our tifically wrong. Instead, they
had described the human per- filter and red filter signals blue sky. So, the internet is full preserve an important record
ception of the effect, which from the lander’s camera. of Mars images with different of what we as human beings
painters call atmospheric Later landers and rovers color balances, including knew about our solar system
perspective. have suggested the martian attempted true-color images. at the time they were painted.
Each planet offers a unique sky color varies with the dust What does Mars really look And what we have learned
challenge. Mars might seem content in the air. I’ve wit- like to a human visitor? We along the way is that when it
easy to paint because of the nessed a similar shift in have yet to find out. comes to exploring our solar
abundant imagery from land- Arizona, from blue to tan, One lesson we should take system, painters and scientists
ers and rovers, as well as the during dust storms. To con- away from all this is not to have a fascinating and pro-
presence of similar landscapes fuse matters further, some throw out older paintings ductive relationship!
on Earth. However, determin- martian images are deliber-
ing the actual colors that ately altered toward bluer col- William K. Hartmann is a planetary scientist, artist, and writer.
would be perceived by a ors, so that geologists can get With Donald R. Davis, he originated the current hypothesis that the
human on the surface has a sense of martian rock Moon formed from debris of a giant impact on primordial Earth.
DANIEL DAHAN
Mother and Child
Acrylic
Shortly after arriving on the Red Planet, NASA’s newest Mars DON DIXON
rover, Perseverance, set down the tiny robotic helicopter Enceladus
Ingenuity. Mars Exploration Rover project manager John Callas
described this painting, which depicts that moment, as showing
Oil/digital
the maternal relationship between the rover and its companion.
The artist remains awestruck by the surprisingly heartfelt Jets of water erupt into space and fall as
emotional undertones that connect these two amazing machines. snow in this view from inside one of the
famous tiger-stripe features near the south
pole of Enceladus. Fellow satellite Mimas
transits Saturn in the background. The image
shows the complex features that might form
when ice particles launched at high velocity
rain down in a low-gravity environment.
It is artists who synthesize
scientific results to visualize what
each world is truly like.

ROBIN PLEAK
Europa Glow
MARILYNN FLYNN
Digital
Titan’s Southern Summer
A small robotic rover travels the trackless wastes of
Europa, bathed in the dim glow of ice and snow that Digital
have been excited by intense radiation from nearby
Jupiter. The radiation will severely limit the functional A cloudburst of methane rain floods a river as it carves
lifetime of any craft sent to explore the icy moon, as a canyon through layers of reddish hydrocarbon-tainted
energetic particles bombard onboard computers and water ice on Titan. Astronomers have observed convective
other delicate electronics, quickly degrading them. clouds in the moon’s southern hemisphere during its
summer; rainfall from such clouds could be substantial.
Meanwhile, images from Cassini reveal flowing river
channels of liquid methane and ethane feeding lakes. This
moon is so cold that water ice plays the role of solid rock.

STEVEN HOBBS
Saturn From Passing Comet
Digital
Saturn dominates the view of an imaginary observer standing
on the surface of a dormant comet as it passes by the mighty
ringed planet. The close flyby will impart a gravity boost that
will send the small world into the inner solar system. And as it
nears the Sun, it will grow a coma and tail, sprouting into an
active comet for earthbound skywatchers to enjoy.
MICHAEL CARROLL
Triton’s Cantaloupe Terrain
Acrylic/digital
Triton’s mysterious cantaloupe terrain is unique in our solar system. Its
melon-rind appearance comes from depressions called cavi. This region
sits at the edge of Triton’s pink nitrogen-ice polar cap and is thought to
result from a combination of erosion, sublimation, and internal forces.
Astronomical
realism
challenges the
artist to
depict reality
— not as it is
expected or as
artists would
like it to be,
but as it
actually exists.
MICHAEL LENTZ
DAVINCI on Venus
Digital
NASA’s round DAVINCI probe sits on the surface of Venus, its mission of
sampling the planet’s clouds from top to bottom complete. DAVINCI is currently
under development for launch in 2029. Its descent will mark the first U.S. mission
in four decades to enter the atmosphere of Earth’s sister planet.
RON MILLER
After a Methane Rain on Titan
“ Iworlds
didn’t know what other
looked like until I
Digital
This scene shows the surface of Titan only moments after a
saw Bonestell’s paintings.

— Carl Sagan, astronomer and
“ methane rainfall has passed. Rivulets of liquid methane drain into
methane streams that eventually lead to a larger methane sea.
On Titan, the weather is driven by cycles of methane and ethane,
much like the more familiar water cycle that occurs on Earth.
science popularizer
JON RAMER
Maat Mons
Digital
Maat Mons is the tallest volcano on Venus,
topping out 26,250 feet (8,000 m) above Venus’
mean surface level. This digital image shows
it as an active volcano with ash rising from
the summit, surrounded by lava flows. Steam
eruptions are not possible on Venus, due to its
surface temperature of 900 degrees Fahrenheit
(475 degrees Celsius). Colors and lighting for this
image were sourced from Soviet Venera images.
LUCY WEST
Waking Wanderer
Acrylic
Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko’s surface slowly wakes
as it soars closer to the Sun, generating plumes of ice and
dust and turning a cold space rock into an active comet.

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SKY THIS MONTH
Visible to the naked eye
Visible with binoculars
Visible with a telescope
THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE AS IT APPEARS IN EARTH’S SKY.

BY MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND ALISTER LING
Predawn planetary sights

only 4° high 30 minutes before
Bright Mars sunrise. It heads for superior
takes center
stage amid conjunction on the 16th and
the stars of then passes into the evening
Pisces and sky. More on Mercury shortly.
Cetus. ALAN DYER
Venus stands 13° west of
Mercury on July 1, nicely
located north of 1st-magnitude
Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull.
Farther west along the ecliptic,
Uranus lies in southern Aries,
midway between Venus and
Mars. Its magnitude 5.9 glow
is hidden from direct view but
reachable with 7x50 binoculars.
Mars stands just over 40°
west of Venus and is 40° high in
JULY 2022
the east. It glows dull orange at
magnitude 0.4. Less than 20°
west of Mars, Jupiter is a bril-
liant magnitude –2.4. Another
Continuing last month’s constellations Taurus, Aries, the eastern horizon from mid- binocular planet, Neptune
spectacular array of Pisces, Aquarius, and northern latitudes. Even though (magnitude 7.7) sits at the
planets in the morning sky, July Capricornus. Mercury brightens in the first boundary of Pisces and
offers many planetary delights Mercury will drop quickly few days of July, its angular sep- Aquarius. Last is Saturn in the
to be savored, with all seven from the morning sky. Try to aration from the Sun shrinks southern sky at magnitude 0.4.
major planets on display. Catch spot the magnitude –0.8 planet each day and it becomes harder Now let’s return to the eve-
Mercury early in the month, 30 minutes before sunrise on to spot in growing twilight. By ning sky and progress until
because it will soon hide behind July 1, when it stands 6° above July 5, it is magnitude –1.1 and morning, watching each planet
the Sun. Venus is a dominant rise and checking out its details
morning star, joined in the ear- with a telescope.
Early gathering
lier morning hours by Mars, First is Mercury, which ear-
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and lier we found in the eastern sky
Neptune — the latter two as CAPRIC ORNUS before dawn. On the 16th, it
binocular targets. Saturn passes around the far side of the
We will begin with a brief Sun (superior conjunction) and
PISCES AQUA RI U S
look at the array of planets on Neptune moves into the evening sky.
the morning of July 1 before A RI ES Jupiter You might finally spot
moving to our traditional jour- Uranus Mars Fomalhaut Mercury July 25, when it is
CETUS
ney from evening to morning 10° east of the Sun and sets
TAURUS
Venus
sky. Moving in order from the 40 minutes after our star. Try
eastern horizon to high in the Aldebaran spotting it shining at magnitude
Mercury 10°
southern sky, you can spot –1.2 just 2° high, 25 minutes
Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Mars, July 1, 40 minutes before sunrise after sunset. Visibility doesn’t
Jupiter, Neptune, and Saturn in Looking east greatly improve due to the shal-
early July as dawn approaches. low angle of the ecliptic to the
July opens with an array of planets spread across the morning sky. Note that
They stretch 118° along Uranus and Neptune, while shown here, will require binoculars or a telescope western horizon this time of
the ecliptic, through the to spot. ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY year. A favorable opportunity

RISING MOON I A top-down view
Brianchon and Pascal
Cremona
OBSERVING
HIGHLIGHT Brianchon Sylvester
VENUS passes just 24' north of Pascal
the famous supernova remnant
M1 on July 13.
N
Pythagoras
E
This month, we get a peek over the top of Luna’s head.

CRATERS AT THE NASA’S SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION STUDIO. INSET: NASA/GSFC/ASU
FRINGE become
does occur July 29, when
easy to enjoy when the 13th to the 15th are when we catch the Full Moon
Mercury stands 2.7° below the
the Moon reaches its wonderfully 3D because close to the bottom of its
crescent Moon. Find the Moon lowest high. Tucked against every shadow stretches away up-and-down bobbing motion
by 8:30 P.M. local time and the northern limb on the west from the feature that casts it. Can around Earth. The 27.2-day
search for Mercury slightly side of the pole lie Brianchon, you pick out two craterlets inside cycle quickly loses synch with
below and to its left. Pascal, Sylvester, and Cremona. Cremona? the 29.5-day parade of phases
On the last day of July, try If they had central peaks, All four craters are named for each month. From our north-
to spot Regulus, Leo’s brightest we would see those as bumps European mathematicians. The ern perspective, we are now
star, in the western sky. in profile, but this quartet most prominent — and classical looking down past the crown
Mercury glows 5° to its lower appears to have flat floors. — crater well interior of the limb of Luna’s head. In about
right. Begin around 8:40 P.M. Their front and back rims stand is Pythagoras, perhaps the inspi- nine years, the summer Full
local time — you have about out brightly in the stark sun- ration for names in this part of Moon will sit at its maximum
20 minutes before the pair light because they face us the Moon. above the ecliptic, giving us
descends into the evening haze. almost directly. The views from This geometry is only possible a view under its chin.
Saturn is next to appear,
rising in the east just before
11 P.M. local time on July 1. It’s
approaching opposition and
moving west (retrograde)
METEOR WATCH I When the Moon is New
against the background stars.
Now is a great time to view Southern Delta Aquariid meteors A NEW MOON on July 28 coincides
the ringed planet. During closely with the peak of the Southern
the month, it brightens to Delta Aquariid meteor shower, active
Jupiter
magnitude 0.3 and remains less from July 12 through Aug. 23 and peak-
PISCES
than 2° from Deneb Algedi, a AQUA RI US
ing the morning of July 30. Meteors
3rd-magnitude star in north- from this shower tend to be faint and
eastern Capricornus. You’ll find Radiant reach less than a dozen per hour from
Saturn
Saturn 6° northeast of a waning Skat most North American sites, although
C ETU S
Deneb the zenithal hourly rate (when the
gibbous Moon late on the 15th. Algedi
Diphda CAPRIC ORNUS radiant is overhead, for locations in the
Saturn offers a spectacular PISCIS
Fomalhaut Southern Hemisphere) is predicted at
view through any telescope. Its AU ST RI NU S
25 per hour. For northern observers,
ring system is visible with even
the radiant — near the star Skat in
a small scope, effectively dou- SCUL P TOR
Aquarius — reaches only 30° elevation
bling the 18" size of the planet’s at 3 A.M. local time.
G RUS
disk. The rings have narrowed Other meteor showers are also
since last summer, now occurring, though at low rates, but their
tilted by just under 13° SOUTHERN DELTA 10°
combined frequency makes moonless
to our line of sight. This AQUARIID METEORS
July 30, 3 A.M. mornings late this month favorable.
apparent tilt will increase Active dates: July 12–Aug. 23 Looking south The Perseids begin their slow buildup
a few degrees through the Peak: July 30
at the end of July and, with a Full Moon
Moon at peak: Waxing crescent The Southern Delta Aquariids’ radiant
fall due to the orientation Maximum rate at peak: next month during their peak, late July
doesn’t climb very high for northern
of Earth’s orbital path 25 meteors/hour observers, but a moonless sky improves and early August are good times to
— Continued on page 38 your chances. spot the first members of this shower.
N
STAR DOME
NG
C8
84
NG
HOW TO USE THIS MAP
C8 CAMEL
69 O PA R D
ALIS
This map portrays the sky as seen
N
E
near 35° north latitude. Located
inside the border are the cardinal M8
1
directions and their intermediate SS
CA M82
points. To find stars, hold the map IO
M
PE
overhead and orient it so one of
31
IA Polaris
AN
the labels matches the direction NCP
DR
you’re facing. The stars above MINOR
OM
CE
the map’s horizon now match PH URSA
ED
what’s in the sky. EU
A S
The all-sky map shows

how the sky looks at:
LA
midnight July 1
PE
CE
11 P.M. July 15
G
DR AC O
R
AS
10 P.M. July 31
TA
D e
US
ne
b
Planets are shown
at midmonth
CY
Ve
G
ga
NU
M13
MAP SYMBOLS
BOREALIS
S
C O RO NA
H
ER
LY R A
Open cluster
E
C
M27
M5 7
U
M15
LE
Enif
Globular cluster
VU
S
DEL
SA
LPE
EQU
Diffuse nebula
GIT
PHI
CU
Planetary nebula
ULE
TA
NU
LA
Galaxy
T S
US
P EN
A P
SE
Al
AQ
C ER
U
CA RPE
tai
S
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UA
UD NS
STAR A
RI
S
UCHU
US
MAGNITUDES
A
OPHI
Q
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Sa
IL
Sirius
tur
M1
n
0.0 3.0 1
SC
UT
1.0 4.0 UM M16
C
A
2.0
P
5.0
R
M17
IC
O
R
M2 2 M20
N
U
S
res
STAR COLORS M8 Anta
A star’s color depends SA M4
on its surface temperature. GI
TT M6
AR
IU
•• The hottest stars shine blue S
SE
M7
Slightly cooler stars appear white
• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow
CO
R
AU O NA
• Lower-temperature stars appear orange
STR
ALI
S
SCORPIUS
NG C 6
2 31
• The coolest stars glow red TELES

COPIU
• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color
receptors, so they appear white unless you
M
use optical aid to gather more light
S
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT
www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
JULY 2022
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
1 2
W
N
R
O
AJ 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
M
A
RS
U
R
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
O
IN
M
O
LE
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

17 18 19 20 21 22 23
CI I
AT N
VE
r 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
iza
ES
M
1
M5
LEO
N
CA
bola
31
Dene
COMA CES
N GP
Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary in size due to the distance
from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.
NI
TES
M6 4
BERE
BOÖ
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
W
1 Venus passes 4° north of Aldebaran, 8 P.M. EDT

4 Earth is at aphelion (94.5 million miles from the Sun), 3 A.M. EDT
s
Arcturu
)
ti c
6 First Quarter Moon occurs at 10:14 P.M. EDT

lip
c
(e
12 Asteroid Vesta is stationary, 2 A.M. EDT

GO
n
Su
VIR
he
o ft 13 The Moon is at perigee (221,993 miles from Earth), 5:06 A.M. EDT
th
Pa
4
Full Moon occurs at 2:38 P.M. EDT

M10
5
15 The Moon passes 4° south of Saturn, 4 P.M. EDT

M
ca
Spi
16 Mercury is in superior conjunction, 4 P.M. EDT

17 The Moon passes 3° south of Neptune, 9 P.M. EDT
R
A 18 The Moon passes 2° south of Jupiter, 9 P.M. EDT
IB
RA
L
19 Pluto is at opposition, 10 P.M. EDT
YD
H
20 Last Quarter Moon occurs at 10:19 A.M. EDT

21 The Moon passes 1.1° north of Mars, 1 P.M. EDT
Dwarf planet Ceres is in conjunction with the Sun, 9 P.M. EDT
22 The Moon passes 0.2° north of Uranus, 2 A.M. EDT
SW
26 The Moon is at apogee (252,447 miles from Earth), 6:22 A.M. EDT
S
PU
LU The Moon passes 4° north of Venus, 10 A.M. EDT
28 Asteroid Juno is stationary, 6 A.M. EDT
New Moon occurs at 1:55 P.M. EDT
29 Jupiter is stationary, 8 A.M. EDT
30 Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks
PATHS OF THE PLANETS
DR A
A ND
L AC LYR
PER C YG HE R
AU R
G EM TR I
CNC
A RI VUL
ur y
Me r c PEG
Venus DE L
Sun Uranus SGE
ORI Mars PSC E QU
TAU
OPH
CMi AQL C
Jupiter C/ om
Juno Celestial equator 20 e t
17
K2
MON Neptune Pluto appears at its best
CET
Saturn for the year in July
Vesta Pluto callout
CM a
LE P E RI
FOR PsA C AP SGR
PYX
PUP C OL S CL
M IC
CAE SC O
Moon phases Dawn Midnight
To locate the Moon in the sky, draw a line from the phase
2 1 shown for the day straight up to the curved blue line.
29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
Uranus
THE PLANETS THE PLANETS IN THE SKY
IN THEIR ORBITS These illustrations show the size, phase,
Arrows show the inner and orientation of each planet and the two
planets’ monthly motions Jupiter brightest dwarf planets at 0h UT for the dates
and dots depict the Neptune in the data table at bottom. South is at the top
outer planets’ positions Saturn to match the view through a telescope.
at midmonth from high
above their orbits.
Venus
Mercury Mars
Ceres
Mercury Pluto
Superior conjunction Opposition is July 19
Ceres is July 16
Solar conjunction
is July 21
PLANETS MERCURY VENUS
Venus
Date July 1 July 15
Mars
Jupiter Magnitude –0.7 –3.9
Angular size 6.0" 11.3"
Earth
Illumination 72% 89%
Aphelion is July 3/4 Distance (AU) from Earth 1.123 1.478
Distance (AU) from Sun 0.335 0.723
Right ascension (2000.0) 5h24.4m 5h42.7m
Declination (2000.0) 22°08' 22°34'

This map unfolds the entire night sky from sunset (at right) until sunrise (at left). Arrows
and colored dots show motions and locations of solar system objects during the month. JULY 2022
1
UM A
Callisto 2
CVn
LMi
BOÖ GEM 3
C rB
C OM Europa
LE O
C NC Ceres 4 Jupiter
Sun
Io
5
SER
o on CMi 6 Io
M t ic)
of th e e clip Ganymede
h n (
VIR Pat h eS
u
SEX 7
LI B of t MON
h
Pat
C RV C RT JUPITER’S 8
HYA
CMa MOONS
Dots display 9 Europa Ganymede
A NT
PYX positions of
PU P
Galilean satellites 10
LU P VEL at 4 A .M. EDT on
the date shown. 11
Early evening South is at the
top to match the 12 Callisto
view through a
31 30 29 28 telescope.
13
14
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
15
16
Jupiter S
17
Saturn W E
18
N
19
10" 20
21
22
Uranus Neptune Pluto
23
24
MARS CERES JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO 25

July 15 July 15 July 15 July 15 July 15 July 15 July 15
26
0.3 8.5 –2.5 0.4 5.8 7.7 15.0
7.7" 0.4" 42.7" 18.5" 3.5" 2.3" 0.1" 27
85% 100% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100%

28
1.223 3.594 4.615 8.996 20.115 29.439 33.552
1.385 2.585 4.961 9.877 19.695 29.916 34.564 29
2h18.9m 7h55.0m 0h31.9m 21h45.8m 3h02.4m 23h43.7m 19h58.6m

30
11°59' 25°30' 1°58' –14°47' 16°50' –3°04' –22°49'
31
WHEN TO
SKY THIS MONTH — Continued from page 33 VIEW THE
PLANETS
Shadow crossing with small telescopes. Look for
the dark equatorial belts strad- EVENING SKY
S dling the equator. The planet’s Mercury (west)
Ganymede’s shadow temperate zones offer subtle
MIDNIGHT
features and contain many Jupiter (east)
Ganymede spots, both dark and bright, Saturn (southeast)
Jupiter
W which move noticeably within Neptune (east)
Io 10 minutes.
The four Galilean moons MORNING SKY
Mercury (east)
orbit Jupiter every two to 16 Venus (east)
July 11, 4:30 A.M. EDT Europa
30" days, offering a constantly Mars (east)
changing display as they and Jupiter (southeast)
The morning of July 11, Ganymede’s shadow slowly crosses the face of
Jupiter. (Callisto, not pictured here, lies farther east.) Europa will follow the their shadows transit Jupiter’s Saturn (south)
next morning. disk. There are two nice events Uranus (east)
this month involving Jupiter’s Neptune (south)
relative to Saturn. Despite this, is easy to spot. Rising nearly an largest moon, Ganymede.
we are now moving toward the hour after midnight on July 1 On the morning of July 4,
2025 ring plane crossing, when and a just over an hour before Ganymede transits across the A similar event takes place
the rings will appear edge-on. midnight by July 31, Jupiter is disk, starting at 4:41 A.M. CDT one orbit later, on July 11, when
Small scopes will spy Titan, well placed throughout the (already bright twilight in the Ganymede’s shadow transits
Saturn’s largest moon — an morning hours. The best views Eastern time zone; East Coast starting at 3:55 A.M. EDT. The
easy target at magnitude 8.5. come closer to dawn, when it is observers can catch the moon’s slow-moving shadow takes just
You’ll find it north of Saturn high in the southern sky. shadow transiting that morning over three hours to cross the
July 4/5 and 20/21, and due Jupiter’s disk grows in before 3 A.M. EDT). The next planet’s face. The next day (July
south July 11/12 and 27/28. apparent size from 41" to 45", day, July 5, Europa transits 12), Europa transits the disk
Much closer to the planet offering a wealth of detail even beginning at 1:17 A.M. EDT. starting at 3:50 A.M. EDT, taking
are the fainter moons Tethys,
Dione, and Rhea. They shine at
10th magnitude and orbit with
periods ranging from two to COMET SEARCH I Two-eyed nights
five days. Their constantly
changing aspect is fascinating ALL SUMMER LONG, Comet Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS)
to follow. C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) glows in
Neptune has crossed into binoculars just west of the mag- IC
4665 N
Pisces after many years in nificent Milky Way. It’s a perfect NGC 6633
Aquarius. It stands 5° due south time to get (re)acquainted with Cebalrai
IC m Path of
of Lambda (λ) Piscium, the the bright deep-sky objects that 4756 a Comet Marfik
southeasternmost star in the just miss the prime dark observing SERPENS CAUDA PanSTARRS
July 1
Circlet of Pisces. Neptune region along our galaxy’s spine.
5 M12
shines at magnitude 7.7. It rises Start at magnitude 2.8 Beta (β) d
E 10
Ophiuchi; PanSTARRS lies one M14 15
soon after midnight in early
binocular field southwest. Now M10 ¡
July and is well placed in the
swing back to Beta and take in 20
southeastern sky in the two _
the large star cluster IC 4665 at c OPH I UC H U S
hours before dawn. You can get + 25
10 o’clock. Closer to Aquila are SCUTUM
its approximate location from i c
NGC 6633 and IC 4756, set against M26 30
Jupiter: Neptune is about 12° NGC 6604
a rich starry background. M16 M107
west of the gas giant. Neptune Compare the comet to a NGC 6605 d
will require binoculars or tele- globular clusters M10 and M12. 3°
scope to find its dim bluish PanSTARRS will be less than 1° Comet PanSTARRS makes its way through a region rich with star clusters
disk, which spans a mere 2". from M10 from the 13th to the for comparison this month.
Jupiter spends the entire 15th, sadly with a nearly Full
month in Cetus and reaches Moon in the sky. Still, don’t let that stop you from trying to spot it from the suburbs with a 6-inch scope.
its stationary point July 29. PanSTARRS will be a smidge fainter than M12’s magnitude of 6.1 and M10’s 6.6, but comets can have
Starting at magnitude –2.4 and outbursts so we might be in luck. Dark skies return the weekend of the 22nd, when you can compare
brightening by 0.2 magnitude with M107 (magnitude 7.9). Globulars are generally very round, but the comet’s stubby fan should give
by month’s end, the giant planet it a soft northern flank and well-defined bow on the Sun-facing south.

LOCATING ASTEROIDS I
Hitting the high numbers
THE TIME IS RIGHT: An asteroid reaches maximum brightness
when it is simultaneously closest to the Sun and Earth. Main-belt
Traveling the Twins objects tend to be discovered in order of their size (bigger is
brighter), which is why we rarely feature asteroids with numbers
Capella
above 100. 387 Aquitania has a fairly eccentric, egg-shaped orbit
that brings this 60-mile-wide world closer in while Earth is far-
AURIGA thest out, causing the asteroid to shine brighter than average.
To spot Aquitania, you’ll need a 3-inch scope from the country
TAURUS Aldebaran
or a 6-inch under suburban skies. Though close to the Milky Way,
the magnitude 10 dot is cruising in front of the Great Rift, whose
dust obscures innumerable background stars. Nu (ν) Ophiuchi
serves as a nice magnitude 3.1 starting point. Sweep northeast
ORION until you reach Aquitania’s predicted position. Come back a night
or two later to see that it shifted. From the 25th to the 29th,
Venus Aquitania passes two notable field stars, making this easy.
Castor
G EMINI Betelgeuse Rigel This space rock was named after the region in France where
the observatory that discovered it was located, as astronomers
Pollux had run out of Greek gods and muses by 1894. Good alignments
10°
between Aquitania and Earth occur every nine years, but the best
July 26, 1 hour before sunrise come in almost 100-year intervals. We’re slipping out of phase, so
Looking east
the next issue of Astronomy to highlight Aquitania will be in 2122!
Venus spends the month in a rich region of the sky, passing M1 and M35
before sharing the morning twilight with a crescent Moon July 26. Now’s your chance
M14
less than two hours to complete 4th-magnitude Omicron (ο) c N
July 1
its journey. Piscium. Mars crosses into Aries 5
Io and its shadow traverse July 9; a waning crescent Moon OPH IU CH U S
10
Jupiter in a repeating sequence joins it in the Ram July 21, less
on the mornings of July 8th than 3° away by sunrise. On 15
(from 2:19 A.M. EDT), 15th July 31, Mars rises soon after +
20
c Path of Aquitania
(from 4:11 A.M. EDT), and 22nd midnight and stands 11° north E i
(from 5:02 A.M. CDT — note of Menkar, a magnitude 2.5 star 25
this is in daylight in the Eastern in Cetus the Whale. S CU T UM 30
NGC
time zone). July 22nd includes Mars reveals its 8"-wide face 6604
Ganymede reappearing from through telescopes and shows a SERPENS k i
C AUDA
behind Jupiter at 4:58 A.M. CDT, nice 85-percent-lit gibbous disk. a M16
NGC 6605
just before Io’s transit begins. Io You will need lucky moments j 2°
joints its own shadow for a tran- of steady atmospheric seeing to
sit July 31st at 2:20 A.M. EDT. spot details. High-speed video Aquitania is brighter than usual this month and won’t put in another
Callisto is far enough out capture with long-focal-length appearance this good for a century.
that the slight tilt in its orbital telescopes and extensive pro-
plane relative to Earth causes cessing will begin to bring out
it to miss Jupiter entirely. On features. Mars reaches opposi- the Crab Nebula (M1) July 13. changes from an 86-percent-lit
July 17 around 1 A.M. EDT, tion in December, when the Venus then spends three days disk spanning 12" on July 1 to
Callisto lies south of Jupiter’s apparent size of its disk will be — July 16 to 18 — crossing the 92 percent lit and 11" wide on
south pole. more than 2 times larger. extreme northern edge of Orion July 31. Its magnitude remains
Mars rises among the faint Venus stands 4° due north of before moving into Gemini the a constant –3.9 all month.
stars of Pisces shortly before Aldebaran, the brightest star in Twins. The glowing planet sits Earth reaches aphelion, the
2 A.M. local time on July 1. The Taurus, before dawn on July 1. 1.5° south of the open star clus- farthest point from the Sun in
planet grows slowly brighter this It rises about 3:45 A.M. local ter M35 on July 20. A very fine its orbit, on July 4.
month, from magnitude 0.4 to time and by 4:30 A.M. is well waning crescent Moon stands
0.2. It starts July 20° east of clear of the horizon, adjacent less than 4° north of Venus on Martin Ratcliffe is a
Jupiter and drifts eastward from to the stars of the Hyades. July 26 — a glorious early- planetarium professional with
night to night. On July 2, the Each morning, Venus slides morning display just as Castor Evans & Sutherland and enjoys
Red Planet lies 13' due south of farther east, passing 24' north of and Pollux, Gemini’s twin observing from Wichita, Kansas.
1st-magnitude stars, rise to Alister Ling, who lives in
GET DAILY UPDATES ON YOUR NIGHT SKY AT greet the dawn. Edmonton, Alberta, is a longtime
www.Astronomy.com/skythisweek. Through a telescope, Venus watcher of the skies.
VISIONS
OF OUR
MILKY WAY
The billions of stars in our home
galaxy present artists with infinite possibilities for
transporting us to other worlds. BY RON MILLER
THE MILKY WAY AND ITS COUNTLESS STARS, nebulae, and
exoplanets were latecomers to space art. The reason is pretty simple: No
RICHARD BIZLEY
one knew very much about what lay beyond the limits of our own solar
Life on a Tidally-
system until the past century or so. Locked World
There were depictions of recording something for found to be island universes
the Milky Way, of course, and science — or even just plain separate from our own galaxy. Acrylic
the stars and Moon appear in curiosity — and creating a And until astronomers under- In this scene on a tidally
petroglyphs and on seals and unique work of art because stood the true nature of stars locked world, the parent
decorative objects dating as the subject inspires you. It is and the Milky Way, little star of the imagined planet
far back as 1600 b.c. By the the difference, say, between an inspiration existed for artists never rises or sets. The
world’s plants are all seen
19th century, entire atlases of academic treatise on cetology to paint them.
facing the same direction,
the sky were being published. and Moby-Dick. It’s one thing Probably the first artist to competing with each other
They were as scientifically to accurately place a star in its wonder what it might be like to reach toward the light.
accurate as possible for the proper position on a chart of to stand under a different star Something is disturbing
time, but often beautifully the night sky, and another to than the Sun was the French the waters … possibly an
intelligent animal.
embellished by imaginative wonder what that star might artist-astronomer Lucien
illustrations of the look like if you were to visit it Rudaux (1874–1947). Like the
mythologically-inspired or stand on one of its planets. great American space artist
constellations. It wasn’t until 1923 that Chesley Bonestell (1888–1986),
However, there is a funda- “spiral nebulae” such as the Rudaux had been a commer-
mental difference between Andromeda Galaxy were cial illustrator who developed
V I S I O N S O F O U R M I L K Y WAY
DON DAVIS
Hercules X1 stars in the sky, but on how As astronomers probed
Acrylic they would affect conditions ever deeper into our galaxy
on the accompanying planets. and learned more about how
The X-ray binary Hercules X-1 consists of a neutron Knowing that double stars it came to be and how it func-
star closely orbiting a larger star. Material from the existed with stars of different tions, every new scrap of
larger star interacts with the neutron star’s intense
colors, Rudaux wondered what knowledge was an inspiration
magnetic field as it falls in.
visual effects that might pro- for space artists. Yes, we know
duce, and what it might be like what pulsars and black holes
to stand on a planet orbiting a are, but how would one look?
binary star system. The result That is what inspires space
a serious interest in astron- These included “Other Suns was a simple painting, but the artists, and sometimes it’s not
omy. So serious was he that a With Worlds of Their Own first of its kind. The piece an easy question to answer.
crater on Mars is named for Like Ours?” In this story, nine depicted a barren landscape I recall an instance when
him, not for his work as a color paintings depicted dominated by large rocks cast- I needed to do an illustration
space artist but for his contri- scenes on planets orbiting a ing colored shadows. Rudaux of the Milky Way as it might
butions to science. white dwarf, a red giant, and speculated on “the incompa- appear from a planet orbiting
In the mid-1930s, Rudaux binary stars; planets within a rable spectacle of a two- a star far outside the galaxy.
wrote and illustrated a series star cluster; and others. The colored moon, created by the How bright would it be,
of astronomy articles for illustrations speculated not light it receives on either side I wondered? How might
American Weekly magazine. only on the appearance of the from each of the two suns.” the Milky Way look to the

naked eye if we could see the landscape of “a hypothetical with the discovery of the first planets with ring systems that
entire galaxy? After all, we planet.” But these were the in 1992, whole new vistas dwarf Saturn’s, worlds where it
live inside it and the band result of aesthetic decisions opened for space artists. rains molten iron, eyeball
of the Milky Way arching and not because Bonestell was Eventually, a regular menag- planets with one frozen and
overhead is pretty dim. So, inspired by any real places. erie of unusual and outright one hot side, ocean and ice
I decided to ask the great When the existence of weird worlds appeared: super- worlds, and even planets much
astronomer Bart Bok, a lead- exoplanets was confirmed Jupiters and brown dwarfs, like our own — or better.
ing authority on the Milky With every new discovery
Way, who ought to know comes new inspiration for the
everything there was to know enthusiastic, curious crowd of
about our galaxy. “Well,” he space artists.
said, “you know, I never really KEN NAIFF
thought about that.” Ron Miller is a longtime
Therein lies, I think, one of
Rho Ophiuchi Astronomy contributor who
the most important contribu- Photographic art designed the best-known
tions space art can make to early illustration of Pluto for
the science of astronomy. One of the closest star-forming regions to the Milky Way, the the U.S. Postal Service in 1991.
Many astronomers face two Rho Ophiuchi complex is a gigantic, colorful cloud of cosmic
gas and dust located some 460 light-years from Earth.
limitations in visualizing
whatever it is they may be
studying. One is that all too
often, all that is known about
an object is contained in pages
of figures and graphs. It can
be hard to translate that into
something real.
Another is specialization.
Focusing on just one narrow
area of study can get in the
way of visualizing something
as a whole. A planetary scien-
tist who is an expert on the
climate of Mars may have
only a general knowledge of
the planet’s geology. The space
artist by necessity must draw
from every possible source
when creating an image, just
as a paleontological artist
needs to know everything
about a dinosaur, from the
shape of its teeth to the cli-
mate it lived in.
Possibly the most fruitful,
and certainly the most excit-
ing, new discoveries for space
artists have been exoplanets.
Exoplanets have long been a
staple of science fiction, from
Forbidden Planet’s Altair IV
to Star Wars’ Tatooine.
Bonestell had assumed that
such planets might exist.
He created dozens of paint-
ings of stars seen from the
DON WHITE
In the First Second
Watercolor/acrylic/digital
As a star takes its final breath before collapsing into a
remnant, it compresses before exploding some of its
matter into the surrounding cosmos.
ALDO SPADONI
TRAPPIST-1 Planetary System Viewed
From the Surface “some
I’ve seen TRAPPIST-1 included in
artistic works. … It’s like this
Digital
A hypothetical view of the TRAPPIST-1 system, as seen system has a life of its own.“
from the surface of one of its numerous planets.
— Michaël Gillon, author of 2017 study revealing
Trappist-1’s seven sibling planets
PATTY HEIBEL
Fireball
DANA BERRY Sculpture

Super Massive Black Hole Jetting Fireball sculptures represent glowing hot meteorites as
they explode upon entering Earth’s atmosphere. This
Digital example is made of mixed media including iron, bronze,
and copper, and is presented on a manzanita branch.
Originally commissioned by Astronomy, this work
depicts the Milky Way’s central supermassive black
hole, which spouts energy outward as it guzzles matter.
ZINA
SVIDERSKIENE
Red and Blue
Oil
Two young binary stars,
born from the same cosmic
cloud of material but of
different mass, temperature,
and luminosity, won’t be
tangoing for too long.
The blue-white star will
ultimately collapse into
a black hole. Then it will
start tearing away the
red-orange star’s outer
layers, consuming the
cooler partner’s material.
Asteroids in eccentric
orbits — and maybe space
tourists passing by while
visiting the system —
will bear witness to the
impending drama.

DON WHITE
The Rogue
Watercolor/
acrylic/digital
We catch a brief
glimpse of the
hypervelocity star
S5–HVS1, the fastest
star known, as it flees
the galaxy at a rate of
nearly 4 million mph
(6.4 million km/h).
ROBIN HART
The Pillars of Creation
Fabric
A Hubble deep space photo was the inspiration for this patchwork piece
of the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula. To re-create the stellar
nursery, fabrics were applied in a grid pattern (to represent digital data).
Applique and intricate threadwork help create the illusion of glowing
gases, stars, and dust clouds.

THOMAS O.
MILLER
“ We now know that this kind of auroral
behavior is extending all the way from
Brown Dwarf
With Aurora
planets up to brown dwarfs.“ — Gregg Hallinan, Digital
author of 2015 study uncovering aurorae on a brown dwarf A brown dwarf looms over
a planet during an intense
auroral storm in this eerie
scene. The magnetic field
that flows between them
creates an ethereal effect.
NURUL SYAHIRAH BINTI

NAZARUDIN
The Pillars of Creation
Watercolor
The Pillars of Creation became iconic after Hubble’s
image of the towering dust clouds was reproduced
all around the globe. This artistic take on the Pillars
shows us a dramatic look at star formation.
EXTRAGALACTIC
In the universe’s outer reaches,
where telescopes fail us, artists
can take over. BY JON RAMER
COMPARED TO THE UNIVERSE, human perspective is tiny. The fastest
thing we know of is light, which travels at 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers)
per second. It takes light 8.3 minutes to travel from the Sun to Earth. Light
needs over four years to cross the distance to the closest star outside our solar
system, and 26,000 years to reach the center of the Milky Way. The nearest
galaxy like our own is a dizzying 2.5 million light-years distant — but the
rest of the universe? The rest of the universe is mind-bogglingly far away.
The latest estimates sug- so has another key factor in
gest there are over 200 billion understanding the universe:
galaxies in the universe, and the artists who depict those
over 90 percent of them are tremendous scales and fasci- SAM DIETZE
more than a billion light-years nating objects.
Interstellar Filaments
away. In fact, the light we see Humans are visual crea-
today from more than two- tures. For us, being able to see Oil
thirds of those galaxies was something is crucial to under-
This expressionistic image
emitted before Earth even standing it. Unfortunately, the
depicts one possible
formed. We occupy a tiny, farther away an object lies, the configuration of gas flowing
miniscule portion of a vast, harder it is for our astronomi- through the early universe.
vast cosmos. cal tools to see. But the imagi-
It is difficult for the human nation of an artist can leap
mind to contemplate such across those light-years to
tremendous scales, and just as paint a picture from a closer
difficult to study the myriad or different perspective, and In the 1960s, Fritz Zwicky
of fascinating objects that lie bring new understanding. compiled a catalog of galaxies
at them. But human curiosity Artists have done this since and galaxy clusters with
and ingenuity is rising to that the beginning of astronomy, nearly 40,000 objects in it.
challenge. Our arsenal of and nowhere has this been This catalog wasn’t heralded
astronomical tools has grown more useful than in studying just by scientists; it inspired
and improved at an ever- objects in the ever-increasing artists by giving them a veri-
increasing rate over the past depths of space outside our table smorgasbord of galactic
couple of hundred years. And own galaxy. shapes to paint. Spirals,
WONDERS
EXTRAGALACTIC WONDERS
barred spirals, ellipticals, len- from the surface of a nearby that can collect X-rays,
ticulars, irregulars, ringed planet. Artists can drop us gamma rays, neutrinos, and
galaxies, interacting galaxies into the center of a distant even gravitational waves.
— the artistic possibilities gaseous whirlpool, or spread Each new type of telescope
were breathtaking, and so a spiral arm of stars across has opened new ways to study
were the images artists cre- the sky to marvel at — sights the universe — like sampling
ated in response. our earthbound cameras will particles from the cores of
We now have photographs never be able to capture. exploding stars and sensing
of millions of galaxies from There is more to the the ripples in space-time
optical telescopes both on and universe than just visible caused by colliding black
off Earth. All of them have light, though. Radio holes. With all of these come
the same, limited viewpoint: telescopes like the Very Large new artistic opportunities.
looking in from afar. But an Array in New Mexico and the As fascinating as these rich
artist can show us what a sky Atacama Large Millimeter/ troves of new data are, we
filled with a cluster of galaxies submillimeter Array in Chile cannot see what a radio
would look like from deep have opened new realms of telescope or gravitational-
space, or the view of a galaxy discovery, as have instruments wave observatory sees. The
active galaxy 100 million

light-years away and create
a plausible up-close image
depicting an erupting galactic
core with vast jets of material
shooting into the void, vividly
illustrating the physics of
these immensely powerful
objects. Depictions of rarer
MICHAEL C. TURNER data are just numbers. and more mysterious deep-
Cosmic Prophecy Although we can sometimes space objects rely even more
create false-color images from heavily on artistic skill — like
Acrylic the streams of ones and zeros, the event horizons of super-
A galaxy viewed from a dramatic angle reveals the
their resolution is limited. But massive black holes, protogal-
nature of its spiral arms, which sweep into intergalactic a skilled astronomical artist axies, and fast radio bursts.
space, displaying an array of treasures. can take the reams of non- Artists can also make
visible observations from an sense of the most tenuously

WILLIAM K. HARTMANN
connected structures in the thousands of galaxies cata- Alien Planet With Colliding Galaxies in Sky
cosmos. For most of the 20th loged in the Sloan Digital Sky
Acrylic
century, astronomers assumed Survey and found that fila-
that galaxy clusters were the ments may also have coherent A watery planet orbits a star that has been ejected from its
galaxy during a collision with another galaxy.
universe’s largest organized motion. In 2021, a team of
collections of matter. But in astronomers reported that
the 1980s, astronomers real- these structures appear to
ized that structure exists on rotate, their galaxies twisting
a much larger scale. Surveys around each other in aston- well-crafted image can convey universe began and evolved
detected vast walls and ishingly gigantic displays of their immensity and complex- — and crucial to that
humongous filaments of gal- angular momentum. The ity in an instant. understanding are the images
axies crisscrossing the uni- scale of such structures is All of these discoveries created by astronomical
verse, and great empty voids almost unimaginable, but a help us understand how our artists.
that span hundreds of mil-
lions of light-years. Jon Ramer is a career military officer and avid world traveler. He works in acrylics, oils, and digitally.
More recently, astronomers A fellow of the IAAA, he has had works featured in several astronomical and scientific art shows. Most
have analyzed hundreds of recently, he co-edited and wrote The Beauty of Space Art (Springer Nature, 2020).
NASA, ESA, H. TEPLITZ AND

M. RAFELSKI (IPAC/CALTECH),
A. KOEKEMOER (STSCI), We occupy a tiny, miniscule portion
R. WINDHORST (ARIZONA
STATE UNIVERSITY), of a vast, vast cosmos.
AND Z. LEVAY (STSCI)
Hubble Ultra Deep Field
Digital photograph
RICHARD BIZLEY
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field (2014) was
produced by combining over 2,000 exposures
Eternal Ocean of Multiverses
of the same small spot of sky taken over
10 years into one image. This image is made Acrylic
up of roughly 25 days of exposure time and This higher-dimensional view of the multiverse depicts a
shows about 10,000 galaxies. cluster of universes that happen to be “next door” to each
other, each with different fundamental laws of physics.

LUCY WEST
Mighty M106
Acrylic
The spiral arms of galaxy M106 in Canes Venatici are laced with glowing patches
of star formation and sprawling dust lanes, as captured in this detailed painting.
DANA BERRY
Hyper-Luminous Starburst Galaxies Merging
13 Billion Years Ago
Digital
Two protogalaxies at the dawn of the universe are colliding and
undergoing starburst — a phase of intense star formation. This is
a digital photocollage created in Maya and Photoshop.
Humans are visual

creatures. For us, being
WALTER B. MYERS
Red Galaxy Sunset
able to see something is
Digital
crucial to understanding it.
A barred spiral galaxy dominates the sky as it sets over the
ocean of a distant planet populated with alien life forms.

JUSTIN DRAKE
View of a Pulsar From
a Lonely Planet
Digital
A lifeless world is bathed in intense
radiation from a quasar, even from tens
of thousands of light-years away.
MARK A. GARLICK
Extra-Galactic Web
Digital
Extragalactic space is much more tenuous than interstellar space
or the interior of the solar system, but even the emptiest places
are not completely empty. Gas surrounds galaxies and exists
between them in a great weblike structure called the cosmic web.
61
JUSTINAS VITKUS
Galactic Islands
Digital
The spiral arms of a galaxy are splayed in the foreground, bursting
with hot, young stars giving off blue light. The radiation from these
stars are energizing patches of hydrogen gas, which glow red.
ALDO SPADONI
Cradle of Life
Digital
The Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) is the proposed successor
to the Very Large Array. It would be the flagship facility of the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory, which commissioned this artwork. The
piece symbolically portrays ngVLA and the objects it will study.
PATTY RAY AVALON

Messier 66
Artists can drop us Acrylic
into the center of a distant M66 is a spiral galaxy roughly 30 million
gaseous whirlpool or light-years away in the constellation

Leo. It has prominent dust lanes and
spread a spiral arm an unusual arm structure that has been

distorted by a gravitational encounter
with another galaxy.
of stars across the sky.

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P40245
STEVEN HOBBS JON RAMER
ARTIST With a Ph.D. in geographic information

systems and remote sensing, Steven has
actively researched and illustrated martian
geomorphology, Earth-based analogues,
A career military officer and avid world trav-
eler, Jon works in acrylics and oils, and digi-
tally. His works have appeared in several
astronomical and scientific art shows. He
INFORMATION
and surface processes. His artwork has also recently coauthored and edited The
appeared in many books and magazines. Beauty of Space Art (Springer Nature, 2021).
iaaa.org/ iaaa.org/
member-portfolio/?member=61 member-portfolio/?member=7
MICHAEL LENTZ PAT RAWLINGS
As art director at NASA’s Conceptual Image Hundreds of magazines, books, television
Lab, Michael provides guidance for the cre- programs, and films have employed Pat’s
ADRIANNA ALLEN JUSTIN DRAKE ation of art and animation, working agency- artwork. He has produced many finished
A scientific illustrator who creates visuals to Inspired by the beauty of space, infinite wide with scientists and producers to help pieces for NASA centers over a quarter-
inspire curiosity and promote science liter- potential landscapes, and the unknown, bring their stories to life. century, from robotic planetary missions
acy, Adrianna has had work featured in The Justin creates both astronomical illustra- the-crayon.com to human exploration of Mars and beyond.
Planetary Report and Ad Astra magazines. tions and science fiction artwork. patrawlings.com
photonillustration.com artstation.com/artistjaydrake MARK MAXWELL
From multiple exhibitions at the ALDO SPADONI
PATTY RAY AVALON MARILYNN FLYNN Smithsonian Air & Space Museum to An aerospace engineer and futurist, Aldo has
A fine artist and muralist focusing on outer A science-based astro artist and illustrator, the first art exhibit in orbit on the space more than 35 years of experience supporting
space imagery, Patty’s involvement in art Marilynn merges her artistic talents with a station MIR, Mark’s work for NASA and NASA and Department of Defense programs.
has spanned 30 years. Her current works lifelong passion for space exploration. Her other agencies has kept him busy. An accomplished illustrator, concept
blend scientific views, gathered from tele- works in acrylic, pencil, digital, and fiber iaaa.org/ designer, and Hollywood technical consul-
scopes, with her personal interpretation. media have been exhibited worldwide. member-portfolio/?member=77 tant, he is president of the International
avalonart.gallery tharsis-artworks.square.site Association of Astronomical Artists.
ERIKA A. MCGINNIS fineartamerica.com/profiles/
DANA BERRY JUSMENA FONSECA With work shown at the U.S. Air Force aldo-spadoni
Both an illustrator and Emmy-nominated A Brazilian space artist, Jusmena’s favorite Museum, Spacefest in Tucson, and the
documentary producer, Dana specializes in style is figurative. She draws and paints Johnson Space Center, Erika’s career has NICK STEVENS
science and astronomy. He has produced using various techniques such as graphite, also taken her to illustrate astronaut Ron A digital artist based in Moldova, Nick spe-
animations for many NASA missions and charcoal, dry pastels, and oils, and models Garan’s children’s book, Railroad to the cializes in unflown spacecraft projects and
his artwork has appeared in numerous in clay. Moon (New Epoch Publishing, 2021). spacecraft of the Soviet Union, particularly
publications. iaaa.org/ erikamcginnisart.com the crewed Soviet lunar program.
skyworksdigital.com member-portfolio/?member=279 nick-stevens.com
RON MILLER
RICHARD BIZLEY DOUG FORREST An illustrator and author specializing in ZINA SVIDERSKIENE
Richard paints astronomical and prehistoric An artist who creates graphite-pencil astronomy, Ron’s work appears regularly An astrophysicist and longtime senior
scenes in acrylics, working in his English fine-art drawings that focus on the Apollo in Astronomy and Scientific American. His researcher at the Vilnius University
gallery. Born deaf, he enjoys engaging program, Doug has presented his work in more than 70 books include The Art of Institute of Theoretical Physics and
with the public and sharing the wonders Astronomy magazine and in the book Chesley Bonestell (Paper Tiger, 2001) and Astronomy, Zina breathes her passion
of the cosmos. Imagining the Spheres: How We View Our The Art of Space (Zenith Press, 2014). for astronomy into artwork. She has
bizleyart.com Neighboring Worlds (Steven Hobbs, 2018). black-cat-studios.com authored and edited nine books.
apollo-arts.com iaaa.org/
CHRIS CALLE THOMAS O. MILLER member-portfolio/?member=296
With subjects ranging from the Apollo MARK A. GARLICK A Cincinnati-based illustrator, Thomas has
astronauts on the Moon to distant planets, A former professional astronomer turned a background in fantasy, science fiction, PRISCILLA THOMAS
Chris’ work represents an artist who can astro artist, Mark now devotes his time to and science fact. He has specialized in Capturing the human touch in our reach
be seen on everything from a U.S. postage creating realistic astronomy and space visualizing images in several scientific for the stars, Priscilla reveres explorers and
stamp to enormous murals. scenes, stills and animations, and paleo areas including medical, educational, adventurers. She recently shared her art
callespaceart.com art. He is the author of several books. and astronomical categories. depicting the merging of space and the soul
markgarlick.com atomicart.com in a solo gallery exhibit titled “Space and
MICHAEL CARROLL Soul Together.”
A founding member of the International DAVID A. HARDY WALTER B. MYERS priscillathomasvisual.com
Association of Astronomical Artists, The longest-established space artist An illustrator specializing in science,
Michael has produced work frequently represented in this issue, David was first astronomy, and space exploration, Walter PETER THORPE
seen in Astronomy and is the author of published in 1952. He is the author and has had work appear in books, magazines, For more than 40 years, Peter has designed
more than 30 books. He has received the illustrator of many books on astronomy, museum exhibits, and on TV. His art strives and illustrated book covers. He served as
Lucien Rudaux Memorial Award. space travel, volcanoes, and geology. He toward photorealism with the goal of creat- creative director of the Space Frontier
carrollspaceart.com has produced many book covers as well. ing revealing images. Foundation for 20 years, and his rocket
astroart.org arcadiastreet.com paintings are very well known in the space-
DANIEL DAHAN art community.
An artist and videographer, Daniel has pro- ROBIN HART KEN NAIFF peterthorpedesign.com
duced work that has been featured in many A lifelong love of space has led Robin to Growing up in the bluebell-laden English
conventions and art shows. When he’s not producing astronomical art. Working in countryside, Ken developed a passion for MICHAEL C. TURNER
going on adventures or stargazing, he works many media, Robin has now shifted into space. As an astroimager, Ken integrates Unique starscapes of cosmic phenomena
on his YouTube channel, Adventure Art. producing many quilts as art pieces por- art and science by capturing deep space characterize Michael’s art, which he
adventureartwork.com traying nebulae and galaxies. pictures that are both thought-provoking creates with traditional pigments and
iaaa.org/ and nurture a sense of wonder. bristle-brush techniques on cloth canvases.
DON DAVIS member-portfolio/?member=57 darkskyimagesbyken.com He has been featured in many magazines
A space artist and animator, Don is mainly and on the cover of The Beauty of Space
focused on planetary surfaces and is also WILLIAM K. HARTMANN NURUL SYAHIRAH Art (Springer Nature, 2021).
fascinated by deep space objects. Don is Internationally known as a planetary scien- BINTI NAZARUDIN deviantart.com/astroboy1
interested in impact dynamics of craters tist, author, and painter, Bill is credited with Popularly known as Syahirah Skygazer,
and large basins, and enjoys conveying originating, along with his colleague Syahirah is an astronomical artist and dark- JUSTINAS VITKUS
science to the public. Donald R. Davis, the theory of the origin sky advocate in Malaysia. She strives to A self-taught Lithuanian artist with a long-
donaldedavis.com of the Moon. He was the first winner of spread awareness of the cosmos and the time fascination with space, Justinas por-
the Carl Sagan Medal of the American importance of dark skies through her pas- trays space scenes based on both known
SAM DIETZE Astronomical Society. sion for education and astronomical art. and speculative worlds.
A space artist and plein air artist, Sam has psi.edu/hartmann canvastocosmos.com justv23.artstation.com
participated in many exhibitions, including
Blair County Arts Festival, Southern GARRY L. HARWOOD MARK PESTANA LUCY WEST
Alleghenies Museum of Art, and Art of Studying for a career as a marine biologist Having served in the U.S. Air Force and at An award-winning professional artist, Lucy
Possibilities. He has won numerous awards. and a physical oceanographer, Garry began NASA as a research pilot, Mark teaches has focused on science, astronomy, and
art-3000.com/artist/?id=5412 painting full time in 2009 following two aerospace safety at the University of human evolution. Her works are featured in
decades working in the jewelry industry. He Southern California. His art is kept in NASA, space-themed books, magazines, websites,
DON DIXON lives and works in western Cornwall, U.K. Pentagon, and corporate collections, and he events, and aerospace facilities.
The creator of cover art for Astronomy, garryharwood.co.uk has designed nine space shuttle patches. lucyweststudios.com
Scientific American, and many books rang- pestanafineart.wordpress.com
ing from textbooks to science fiction novels, PATTY HEIBEL DON WHITE
Don is an enthusiastic veteran. He was art A sculptor and painter of deep space and ROBIN PLEAK Memories of “drawing planets when all my
director at Griffith Observatory for 29 years. Earth-based subjects, Patty has an expres- A former engineer and amateur astronomer, friends were drawing dinosaurs” character-
cosmographica.com sive approach that is experimental. She Robin is now semi-retired and is happy to ize Don’s early entry into space art. He is
translates the beauty of the cosmos into create art again after a 30-year hiatus. now inspired by the journey of Voyager 2,
art that focuses on rich, resonant color robinpleak.com and wonders what hitching a ride on that
and surprising texture. distant spacecraft would be like.
heibelgallery.com spacetravelart.com

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SOUTHERN SKY BY MARTIN GEORGE
September 2022
Jupiter dazzles all night
After months with few good seeing, the dark Cassini bright moons, which can 1600s reflect the order of a
if any evening planets, Division separating the outer change relative positions in star’s brightness within a given
September offers several solar A ring from the brighter B ring as little as an hour. constellation, with Alpha (α)
system worlds at a decent hour. stands out. If you increase the Even Mars manages to rise the brightest, Beta (β) second,
You’ll first want to target aperture to 10 centimeters, a by midnight local time in late and so on. This is not strictly
Mercury, which is on the back trio of 10th-magnitude satellites September, though it comes up the case, however. Bayer
end of its finest display this — Tethys, Dione, and Rhea — an hour later when the month grouped the stars in brightness
year. On September 1, the comes into view. begins. The Red Planet resides classes and then assigned Greek
world stands 16° high in the The solar system’s largest in Taurus, with its eastward letters within each class.
west 45 minutes after sunset. planet, Jupiter, lies 45° east of trek starting between the mag- But Sagittarius doesn’t even
Glowing at magnitude 0.4, it Saturn along the ecliptic and nificent Hyades and Pleiades come close to this ideal: Alpha,
appears conspicuous in the twi- thus trails about three hours star clusters and ending Beta, Gamma (γ), Delta (δ), and
light sky. behind its cousin. The giant roughly two-thirds of the way Epsilon (ε) Sagittarii actually
Although the inner planet world crosses from Cetus into from the Bull’s head to the tips run in order of increasing
dims and sinks closer to the Pisces on September 1 and con- of the horns. Mars also bright- brightness! It pays to remember
horizon each day, it remains tinues to swim with the Fish the ens significantly during that Bayer observed from
a fine sight for the next two rest of the month. The planet September, from magnitude Augsburg, Germany, at a lati-
weeks. On September 14, the gleams at magnitude –2.9 –0.1 to magnitude –0.6. tude of 48° north, where
magnitude 1.5 world hangs 10° throughout September, far out- This brightening coincides Sagittarius hangs low in the
high a half-hour after the Sun pacing its starry surroundings. with the ruddy world coming sky. In fact, Beta never rose
goes down. Be sure to follow Jupiter shines so brightly in closer to Earth and growing above his horizon, and Alpha
Mercury’s changing appearance part because it reaches opposi- larger when viewed through a barely did.
through your telescope. On tion September 26. It then lies telescope. Mars’ apparent diam- Star names have always fas-
the 1st, the planet measures 8" opposite the Sun in our sky and eter swells from 10" to 12" dur- cinated me. Perhaps the most
across and is just under half-lit. remains visible all night. It also ing September — big enough to intriguing one in Sagittarius is
By the 14th, it spans 10" and the approaches closest to Earth at show surface features under magnitude 2.1 Nunki (Sigma
Sun illuminates 16 percent of opposition and thus shines good seeing conditions. The [σ] Sgr), the Archer’s second-
its Earth-facing hemisphere. brightest and looms largest best time to look is when the brightest star. The name comes
Saturn reached opposition when viewed with a telescope. planet climbs highest in the sky from the Sumerian Tablet of
in mid-August and now lies The gas giant’s equatorial as dawn starts to break. Thirty Stars, in which it is star
high in the east once darkness diameter swells to 50" on the Venus rises barely 30 min- number 29.
falls. The ringed planet shines 26th, larger than any other utes before the Sun in early Yet Nunki wasn’t originally
at magnitude 0.4 and stands planet can appear except for September and is essentially applied to Sigma Sgr. In the late
out against the much fainter Venus when the inner planet is lost from view. It will return to 1800s, author Robert Brown
background stars of eastern near inferior conjunction. the evening sky in December. identified Nunki with Altair
Capricornus. Plan to spend some time (Alpha Aquilae); a century later,
September evenings find observing Jupiter once it climbs The starry sky Ian Ridpath suggested the
Saturn perfectly placed to view higher in the sky around Sagittarius the Archer lies near- name actually applied to a
through a telescope. Even a midevening. Look for two par- ly overhead as darkness falls in group of stars. Whatever its
small instrument reveals the allel dark belts sandwiching a September, making this a great origin, Nun-ki was the cunei-
planet’s 18"-diameter disk sur- bright zone that coincides with month to ponder the odd pat- form representation of the
rounded by a stunning ring the planet’s equator. Moments tern of its star designations. ancient Sumerian city of Eridu,
system that spans 42" and tilts of good seeing should reveal a Most backyard observers think which today is a relatively small
15° to our line of sight. The 8th- whole series of alternating belts the Greek letter designations archaeological site in Iraq
magnitude moon Titan also and zones. Also be sure to track German astronomer Johann called Tell Abu Shahrain, not
appears obvious. In moments of the movements of Jupiter’s four Bayer developed in the early far from the larger site of Ur.
STAR DOME
S
S
VOL A N
CR C A R I NA
b UX
a
_ C HA M A 2070
ELEON NGC
HOW TO USE THIS MAP ` C
This map portrays the sky as seen C4
NG
near 30° south latitude. Located
7 55 SA
MEN
GC N
inside the border are the cardinal
SW
NG
51
28
C
directions and their intermediate 51
39 ` AU
SCP
CE US
points. To find stars, hold the map N
S
TR TRAL DR
HY
TA IA N E
overhead and orient it so one of U _ GU
LU
RU
the labels matches the direction S
M
SM
C
you’re facing. The stars above RC
CI O C TA N S
the map’s horizon now match IN 104

U NG C
what’s in the sky. S
The all-sky map shows AR PA V O NA A

A UC
how the sky looks at: T
N
O
NG
10 P.M. September 1
R
C
M
63 TE S U
9 P.M. September 15
A N
IND
LU
97
LE
SC
8 P.M. September 30
P
S
GC
US
OP U
IU R
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6
LIB
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23
Planets are shown M
AU R O N
Ant
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1
OR
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at midmonth
ST
ares
M4
M
P
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IU
IU
AL
A
M7
M6
S
P
I
CO
S
AG I
OS
MAP SYMBOLS
T TA
R
IC
S
M8
NU
W
M
Open cluster
M20
RIU
TRI
AU S I S
Globular cluster
S
M22
C
PIS
M17
Diffuse nebula
M5
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Planetary nebula S n
ORNU ur
UT
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Galaxy CAPR Sa
UM
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SE
UI
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SER UT
US
EN
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STAR S
LEU
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U
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PEN
QU
CA
MAGNITUDES E
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Sirius Altair
0.0 3.0
S AG M1 5
1.0 4.0 ITT
A DELPHINUS
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CU
LA
H
STAR COLORS ER
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A star’s color depends U
LE
N
on its surface temperature. S LY

W
RA
R
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•• The hottest stars shine blue
Slightly cooler stars appear white
Veg
a
C YG N
US
LA
• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow

• Lower-temperature stars appear orange Deneb
• The coolest stars glow red
• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color
receptors, so they appear white unless you
use optical aid to gather more light
N
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT
www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
SEPTEMBER 2022
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
UM L 1 2 3
CU
TI
L RE
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SE
M
IU
G
LO
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

O 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
S
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U
AN
ID
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ar 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
ern
h
Ac
X
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25 26 27 28 29 30
R
FO
Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary in size due to the distance
IX
from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.

N
OE
PH
OR
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
PT
SGP
L
3
CU
First Quarter Moon occurs at 18h08m UT

53
aut
NG C 2
S
5
Fomalh
Venus passes 0.8° north of Regulus, 1h UT

Mira
CETUS
7 Asteroid Juno is at opposition, 17h UT

E
The Moon is at perigee (364,492 kilometers from Earth), 18h19m UT

8 The Moon passes 4° south of Saturn, 11h UT
9 Mars passes 4° north of Aldebaran, 1h UT
Jupiter
Mercury is stationary, 20h UT

Path of 10 Full Moon occurs at 9h59m UT
S
the
IU
Sun (ecli
ptic)
R
The Moon passes 3° south of Neptune, 19h UT

A
U
Q
A
11
ES
The Moon passes 1.8° south of Jupiter, 15h UT

SC
14 The Moon passes 0.8° north of Uranus, 23h UT

PI
16 Neptune is at opposition, 22h UT

17 The Moon passes 4° north of Mars, 2h UT
S
Last Quarter Moon occurs at 21h52m UT

SU
A
EG
19 The Moon is at apogee (404,556 kilometers from Earth), 14h43m UT

P
23 September equinox occurs at 1h04m UT

Mercury is in inferior conjunction, 7h UT
E
A
N
RT
A ED
M 25 New Moon occurs at 21h55m UT
O
R
D
A
N 26 Jupiter is at opposition, 20h UT
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COLLECTOR’S EDITION: SPACE ART SPECIAL!

The world’s best-selling astronomy magazine

and piers   

and easily move

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2 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

Editor David J. Eicher

Through the gallery! Assistant Design Director Kelly Katlaps

Yours truly, For reprints, licensing, and permissions:

Dave’s Universe blog:

4 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

Unlike the gas giants

space adventures increased in influenced by humanity’s solar system.

considerably. In the 1980s,

8 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

12 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

14 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

20 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

22 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

24 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

saw Bonestell’s paintings.

30 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE AS IT APPEARS IN EARTH’S SKY.

Predawn planetary sights

32 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

This month, we get a peek over the top of Luna’s head.

The all-sky map shows

• The coolest stars glow red TELES

use optical aid to gather more light

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

1 Venus passes 4° north of Aldebaran, 8 P.M. EDT

6 First Quarter Moon occurs at 10:14 P.M. EDT

12 Asteroid Vesta is stationary, 2 A.M. EDT

Full Moon occurs at 2:38 P.M. EDT

15 The Moon passes 4° south of Saturn, 4 P.M. EDT

16 Mercury is in superior conjunction, 4 P.M. EDT

20 Last Quarter Moon occurs at 10:19 A.M. EDT

Moon phases Dawn Midnight

36 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

MARS CERES JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO 25

85% 100% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100%

2h18.9m 7h55.0m 0h31.9m 21h45.8m 3h02.4m 23h43.7m 19h58.6m

38 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

42 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

DANA BERRY Sculpture

48 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

50 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

planets up to brown dwarfs.“ — Gregg Hallinan, Digital

NURUL SYAHIRAH BINTI

active galaxy 100 million

54 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

NASA, ESA, H. TEPLITZ AND

56 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

Humans are visual

60 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

PATTY RAY AVALON

gaseous whirlpool or light-years away in the constellation

spread a spiral arm an unusual arm structure that has been

64 ASTRONOMY • JULY 202 2

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