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Astronomical Art Astronomical/Space art can be designed around the New Zealand Science Curriculum unit Planet Earth and beyond. Science often inspires artists to create new works of art, the area of astronomical art is still in its infancy, having begun only when humans gained the ability to look beyond our world and artistically depicted what they saw. Space artists are attempting to communicate ideas somehow related to space, often including an appreciation of the infinite variety and vastness which surrounds us. What you need Images of planets, stars, constellations and Nebula Star charts The free downloadable software www.stellarium.org http://hubblesite.org/gallery/ http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/UTILS/search.cgi A variety of Astronomical/Space artists (see Helena Kauppila’s work attached) or images of work of night time skies from Earth eg; Van Goph’s Starry Night or Night over the Rhone. Frazer Gunn is an astrophotographer; for a pdf of the night sky at Lake Tekapo go to: www.frasergunn.co.nz/ChurchandStars/ ChurchandStars.pdf Introduction Step1 Spend several days looking at or studying the night time sky. If you have access to a computer, download the software Stellarium or book a session with Science Alive and their Space Dome to get the ultimate astronomical experience. If you are working from home and want the real thing, take a few minutes after dark to step outside with your children and look up. If you observe the night time sky for several evenings in a row (Stellarium can be set to show you real time and location) the children will notice that the sky looks different each night. The moon may appear to be getting larger or smaller, changing shape or not even visible. The stars may seem brighter and more noticeable (or dimmer and harder to see). A star might not even be a star but a planet! Can the children notice groups of stars that appear together and seem to form a shape or object? There are 88 western constellations known in modern day. In New Zealand the easiest to spot are Orion (Orion’s belt is three stars in a row), this is best viewed in the summer months. Above Orion is the constellation Canis Major (The big dog), which contains the brightest star in our night time sky, Sirius. In the winter months look out for the large curling tail of the scorpion in the constellation Scorpius. Step 2 Use works of art (See artwork attached to this file) to show the children how artists have been inspired by space. Discuss and compare and contrast different works and artists. Children will begin to decide if they prefer the abstract or the more realist pictures, which may inspire their thought processes for their own creations. Imaginative ways to attract children to art works or even space images and sustain and provoke interest may be to focus on small details of the work before showing the entirety. Cover the work with a sheet of paper and have a viewing window over a small detail, then move the window to open up another area. Perhaps take the children on a narrative journey through the work, talking about details or stories around the artists inspiration behind the image. You could even get the children involved in thinking how the artist felt when painting/producing the image. Step 3 The next step is for children to select a space image or something that has inspired them about space and start to design their artwork. Let the children select their artistic medium. This could be digital, canvas, mixed media etc. Try to encourage some scientific validity to be included in their work ie a specific constellation, nebula, planet, exoplanet or star. Older children may need to grid up (www.wikihow.com/Scale-Drawings-Using-the-GridMethod) images of constellations in order to plot where they need to place the specific spots to represent the stars, or they may need to measure distances between stars and planets in their space image to try and replicate these specifications in their artworks. For very young children, grids and planning are not necessarily an option and you can just let their creative juices flow straight onto the paper. Spend time on the artwork so students have time to really get the opportunity to produce quality pieces of work. Step 4 Have a class exhibition where pupils can view each others art. Encourage discussions but remind children that any feedback needs be balanced and appropriate. Children may wish to have their original space image next to their own creation. Invite parents in, students will have the opportunity to give their parents a narrative tour of their artwork, this will allow them to share not only their artistic skills but also their scientific astronomical knowledge. The link between science and art is not as vast as people assume, science, not just astronomy, is based on coming up with ideas and testing them out to see if they work; this is how many works of art have been created. Curriculum Links Science: Children will gain a basic understanding of astronomy and start to recognise familiar stellar objects, distances in space and be encouraged to use a basic astronomical vocabulary. Mathematics: Students will have the opportunity to work with measurements, size, number, quantities, graphing and plotting. English: This study will provide a context for and application of skills such as speaking and listening, making presentations and narrations and using and applying research skills. History: This unit could look at space exploration time lines; the race to the Moon. Pupils could compare how space images/art has changed over time as technology has given us more access to the farthest reaches of space. ICT: Students can use and apply research skills, taking astro-photographs. They can have the opportunity to use digital software to simulate space or use digital software to complete their artistic works. Space Resource Sites There are hundreds of space related websites, below are just a few of these. http://geology.com/teacher/astronomy-space.shtml www.sciencealive.co.nz/free-resources www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html www.kidsastronomy.com/ www.sciencekids.co.nz/astronomy.html www.astronomy.com/observing/astro-for-kids Artist Information Helena Kauppila Helena Kauppila attended The California Institute of Technology studying for a Bachelor of Science and Mathematics. She also attended Columbia University in the City of New York and gained a PhD in Mathematics. As well as being an artist she continues to teach at Columbia University as an adjunct (part-time) assistant professor. Helena is inspired by nature; space is only one field she explores. Helena creates colourful and vibrant abstract paintings of what the skies of distant ‘exoplanets’ (a planet which orbits a star outside the solar system) could look like. Helena has used the online tool Endeavour (http://www.astronexus.com/ endeavour) to meticulously plot where stars would appear in the skies of these distant planets. Using this online tool to inspire her paintings leads to some scientific validity to her dynamic works of art. During the development of the timeline of her space inspired work, Helena met with research scientists and kept up to date with the latest discoveries, of which one was NASA’s Kepler mission. Even though it seems likely that the galaxy is teeming with exoplanets, finding them is not easy. The Kepler mission used the ‘transit method’ to aid the detection of new planets. Planets are millions of times dimmer than the stars they orbit and incredibly distant. The transit method involves sensitive instruments that can detect a periodic dip in brightness of a parent star as the planet passes between the star and the observer. From this method scientists are able to calculate the size and orbit of a planet. Helena kept up to date with technology and used the internet to study habitable exoplanets to give her some suggestions about newly discovered planets, their terrain, size and orbit and how many other planets also orbited the same star. Helena adores working with a palette of colours and so decided to look at images produced by probes and observers launched into space. These probes have produced stunning images of colour and light. Much of this light is the most ancient light observed in the history of the Universe, emitted 380,000 years after the Big Bang. The idea of ancient light still visible now gave the artist some extra input to inspire some of her newer work. References • www.helenakauppila.com, http • //planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/page/methods • http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog • http://sci.esa.int/planck/ Helena Kauppila Aquarius This is one of the paintings by Helena in her ‘star chart series’ taken from the Earth perspective. For NZ perspective downloadable Star Charts go to: www.stardome.org.nz/astronomy/ resources/star-charts/ or view NZ star charts at: www.astronomynz.org.nz/star-charts/starcharts.html Helena Kauppila Aquarius_2014_Oil on linen 14 x14 inches Helena Kauppila Tau Ceti E This painting was inspired by a rumoured planet which is orbiting the Sun like star Tau Ceti. The planet is said to have similar qualities to Earth and orbits in the stars habitable zone. In 2012 an international group of scientists led by Mikko Toumi, of the University of Hertfordshire, announced the potential discovery of five planets around the nearby star Tau Ceti. This stellar system is approximately 12 light years away from Earth. (One light year is equivalent to approximately 10 trillion kilometres.) Helena Kauppila Tau Ceti E 2014 oil on linen 14 x14 inches Helena Kauppila Kepler -22B During the creation of the painting Kepler-22B, Helena was focused on creating a continuous colour distribution. She was inspired by how stars emit white light, which is the full spectrum of visible light. (Imagine a rainbow, this shows the full spectrum of visible light) Kepler-22b is an extrasolar planet orbiting G-type star Kepler-22. It is located about 600 light years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. It was discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope in 2011 and was the first known transiting planet to orbit within the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. Helena Kauppila Kepler 22b 2014_oil on linen 14x14inches Helena Kauppila Kepler-62E Kepler-62E is an exoplanet thought to be a watery world. Helena uses the theme of water with the initial use of cobalt blue to create this painting. Kepler-62E is one of thousands of exoplanet candidates discovered by the Kepler space telescope, whose primary mission between was to seek exoplanets (especially Earth-like ones) outside of the solar system. The Kepler-62 system has five planets, Kepler62E is about 1.6 times the size of Earth and orbits its parent red dwarf star about once every 122 days. It is in fact possibly one of two exoplanets that orbit in the habitable zone of the parent start. For more information on the Kepler system go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler62-kepler-69.html Helena Kauppila_Kepler 62E_2014_oil on linen 14 x14 inches Helena Kauppila Gliese 667 To Arneb This painting is from the ‘star chart series’ Helena created. She has combined the scientific locations of the stars with the unknown quality of what it would look like to live in another Solar System. Gliese 667 is a triple-star system in the constellation of Scorpius . All three of the stars have masses smaller than the Sun. The planetary system Gliese 667 hosts at least 6 to 7 planets. Three of the planets are Super-Earths and are located in the habitable zone. Arneb is a white supergiant star in the constellation Lepus the Hare. In New Zealand it is found above the constellation Orion and can be located between the stars Rigel (Orion) and Sirius (Canis Major). Helena Kauppila Gliese 667 To Arneb 2013 oil on linen 20 x 22 inches No:9 No:7 No: 1 No:8 No: 3 No:10 The Orion Creation Series Digital Art By Anna Baker The Orion Creation Series Narrative explanation of pieces 1, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10 (See small images attached) No.1 Have you ever tried to take a photograph without using a tripod? After many unsuccessful attempts at using a camera to take pictures of the night time sky, you look at your photographic image only to see a series of blurred lines and marks. No.1: represents this frustration. The chaotic image shows the movement, not of the stars but of the artist. No.3 The constellation is hidden within the picture but seems to be being swallowed up by the spiralling nebula. Showing its later destruction as the stars within it die and become recycled into a nebula, ready to create new stars. No.7 What do we know about space? Humans are on a voyage of discovery, constantly exposing new and exciting finds in the world of space. Then we try and piece these new discoveries together, into a bigger picture of the universe and its creation. No.8 How far away is space? How can we get those stellar pictures to Earth in such clear and vivid images? Have you ever had bad reception on your television? This image represent the mind blowing idea that the images sent from space are distances beyond our imagination. No.8: is the image scattering between the Orion Nebula and Earth. No.9 A supernova of a nebula! An actual supernova is when a single star explodes. Possibly caused by gravitational collapse, the star’s luminosity increases and most of the star’s mass is blown away at very high velocity. Imagine billions of stars in a mass Supernova! No.10 How hot is a nebula? A thermographic camera forms an image using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image using visible light. Instead of the normal range of the visible light camera, infrared cameras operate at different wavelengths. The amount of radiation emitted by an object increases with temperature; therefore, thermography allows you to see variations in temperature. No.11 See larger image. When you look up into the night time sky, doesn’t it seem like a blanket of black darkness, with a few spots of light? Yet if you take a closer look, there is an abundance of colour. Humans sometimes need a little help from technology to be able to see it in its full glory. The Orion Creation No.11 This art work is part of a series created using the software ‘Photoshop’. Inspired by the constellation Orion, one of the most prominent star patterns in the sky. Anna is familiar with the software ‘Stellarium’, and this prompted her to use it to locate the Nebula (plural Nebulae) within Orion. She was inspired by the wonderful colours and the idea that Nebulae are partly remnants of dying stars that are recycled to form new stars. *Nebula an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other gases. Nebulae are often great star-forming regions. Orion Creation No.11 Anna Baker