Nov 29
The Seasons of an Eccentric Planet
There are several extrasolar planets out there with highly eccentric orbits (16 Cygni B b and HD 183263 b to name a couple) that have an average temperature not to dissimilar to Earth. However with these eccentric orbits the temperatures can swing wildly by as much as 50 Kelvin. The question is - would such a planet (or moon of said planet) that had sufficient oceans covering its surface be able to keep a mean temperature all year round in its oceans, enough to supportive of life?
This has been the theme for my latest series of works. Four paintings depicting the four ’seasons’ experienced on a hypothetical moon of a gas giant with a highly elliptical eccentric orbit of its parent star. A series of four paintings collectively titled “The Seasons of an Eccentric Planet’s Moon” depicts the possible seasons experienced with such a wild orbit. Each painting is ‘possitioned’ on exactly the same time of day and the same day of the month as to get the parent gas giant planet and the planets sun in the same position in every image.
We start with Winter. At its furthest from the star (lets say for example - further than Mars is to the Sun) the moon is plunged into freezing temperatures. The oceans world wide freeze over and the moon becomes one big snowball. However just a few meters below the ice the ocean is still in a warm liquid state. The atmosphere thins as more and more moisture is frozen into the icy crust. If the moon was to endure these freezing temperatures for long then the ice would slowly thicken until almost all the ocean was frozen, but the moon is not to experience this cold for long as it swings back towards the sun and begins to warm up.
With Spring the temperature has begun to rise rapidly. The ice that once covered the moon is now just a collection of icebergs. Soon even these will be gone as the temperature continues to rise. Although its position is relative to Earth and the Sun at this moment, it is still moving closer to the parent star. The first substantial clouds and a rising humidity trap further heat in the moon’s atmosphere.
Summer arrives as the Planet and its moons reach their closest position to the star (let’s say closer than Venus is to the Sun). the temperature now is blisteringly hot. The ocean’s surface is evaporating at a rapid rate and with huge storms whipping up the seas, the definition between ocean and atmosphere becomes almost a blur. the height of Summer is short lived though as the planet slingshots round the star and heads back out into space.
Finally the temperatures begin to subside as Autumn sets in. All the water vapour boiled off the ocean’s surface cools down into immense clouds and a global rainy season showers the moon. Soon the rains will cease and poles begin to freeze. Then the advance of the ice progresses as the moon heads out further into the cold of space.
3 commentsOct 21
New complete series: Decension to the Hades Moon
The series tells the story of a hypothetical Brown Dwarf and the journey to it’s innermost moon. Like Jupiter’s Io it is a radiation soaked, tidaly ravaged, highly volcanic world. Such a hellish place can have only one name - Hades.
View the series here with some close up detail images.
Each piece is 60cm x 120cm
Please use the contact page if you are interested in purchasing prints.
No commentsOct 12
New solar system and extrasolar artwork added
The first lot of illustrations are now up on Astronomical Art. In the Extrasolar Art gallery we have samples from two series of illustrations currently in production. Brown Dwarf & Family plus Into the Fiery Night are from a series of illustrations exploring a hypothetical brown dwarf and it’s moons. The series will consist of three final pieces.
The other series featured under Extrasolar Art features a fantasy group of terrestrial moons orbiting a gas giant. A barren moon, an ocean moon, a tropical moon and a desert moon each show their view from the surface of their siblings and parent planet.
There is also one lone image from no perticular series. Planet with Rocky Ring was a sketch study to try out some techniques for creating a dense rocky ring system.
In the Solar System Art gallery we have the first few illustrations from my Saturn Series. So far we have Mimas, Enceladus and Titan featured but I’m working on two to three more further illustions for this series featuring Iapetus, Tethys and probably Saturn’s ring system.
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Sep 26
Visualising distant worlds
As of September 2007 there have now been discovered over 250 extrasolar planets (or exoplanets), that is - planets outside our our solar system, either freely moving through space or orbiting another stella object. Despite an extensive and expanding catalogue of these worlds and data such as mass and distance from parent star, we still have yet to optically view these planets in anything but the most crudest resolution.
Visualizing these planets therefore comes down to the minimal scientific data gathered and a lot of imagination. I hope to use this to illustrate some of these new worlds discovered and the hypothetical ones that might just be out there.
2 commentsSep 26
Cassini goes for a close flyby of Iapetus as Arthur C. Clarke bids good luck.
On September 10th 2007 NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flew by Saturn’s moon Iapetus on its closest pass yet of a mere 1,000 mile altitude. Iapetus is a strange two toned moon with some incredible geological features such as the huge scarp in the Cassini Regio region and the baffling mountain range that encircles the moon’s equator and gives the world its strange walnut like appearance. The close flyby produced some excellent photos of the stange light and dark areas as well as the fantastic mountain range.
The event was highlighted by a video message from none other than Arthur C. Clarke. From his Sri Lankan home Clarke sent greetings to all involved in the project and gave his best wishes to the flyby event. Iapetus holds a great significance to Clarke and all who have read 2001 A space Odyssey as it is the location of the Saturn Monolith. Stanley Kubrick however altered the location to Jupiter for several reasons.
One of the series of illustrations I am working on features Saturn and its various moons as the subject. So far I have pieces with Mimas, Enceladus and Titan featured. However with the new images from this close flyby I hope to add to the series with a further illustration of Iapetus, in perticular its equator spanning mountain range.
1 commentSep 25
Welcome
Astronomical Art - The celestial illustrations of Christian Thrower will finally bring some of my work online and available for all those interested to see. illustrations will cover planets, moons and other bodies within our Solar System as well as some more distant, hypothetical views of extrasolar planets and other worlds beyond the reach of our prying telescopes.
Content will start appearing very soon.
CT
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