Sunday, January 3, 2010

Supernova Moon




The title of this piece was originally "High Conjunction," in which Earth's Moon and the brilliant planet Venus are seen in conjunction by a spacefaring viewer well above the earth's surface. But when I look at it now, it seems more like the appearance of a supernova in a fairly close part of our Galaxy, seen over the Moon and the Earth, or perhaps an Earthlike planet with its moon. If this were indeed a supernova, things might get a bit uncomfortable on the planet. A supernova this close would emit lots of hard radiation which would affect the surface even on a planet with a thick atmosphere. If there were life on the planet, there would probably be an evolutionary turning point as irradiated species died off and other more resistant life forms survived.

"High Conjunction," (or "Nearby Supernova,") acrylic on illustration board, 7" x 10", February 1988.

1 comment:

Tristan Alexander said...

Beautiful but deadly huh? I really like this one (I think I have said that WAY to many times but can't think of better ways to say it). The blues are good and I might have addda bit of gold or green if it where my work, but you have the black near the top and that helps set things off a bit.