The Art Of The Cosmos

Charts the human love affair with the heavens in art and astronomy, based on sound science, insightful art, and cultural history. Olson and Pasachoff also recount the story about the quest to discover the mysteries of the universe. Embellished with new information, interpretations, and anecdotes, the authors weave a rich tapestry about the interconnections in the cosmos and the efforts to understand them. They showcase the superstars of the firmament and universe in illustrations featuring paintings, sculpture, drawings, watercolours, prints, as well as plates from books, celestial diagrams, and astronomical photography. --Adapted from publisher description.

In the rapidly changing world of the early Middle Ages, depictions of the cosmos represented a consistent point of reference across the three dominant states--the Frankish, Byzantine, and Islamic Empires. As these empires diverged from their Greco-Roman roots between 700 and 1000 A.D. and established distinctive medieval artistic traditions, cosmic imagery created a web of visual continuity, though local meanings of these images varied greatly. Benjamin Anderson uses thrones, tables, mantles, frescoes, and manuscripts to show how cosmological motifs informed relationships between individuals, especially the ruling elite, and communities, demonstrating how domestic and global politics informed the production and reception of these depictions. The first book to consider such imagery across the dramatically diverse cultures of Western Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic Middle East, Cosmos and Community in Early Medieval Art illuminates the distinctions between the cosmological art of these three cultural spheres, and reasserts the centrality of astronomical imagery to the study of art history.

A sweeping history of humanity's evolving vision of the universe, as viewed through the writings of the most exceptional thinkers in history.

Hundreds of deep space missions since the 1960s have captured stunning photographs of the cosmos. Many of these scientific images can also be classified as art. This book highlights more than 100 examples, revealing the splendor of our universe. This book is a gallery of human accomplishment that celebrates the scientists and engineers who push civilization—including the ways that we produce and experience art—beyond the physical limits of our planet. The photographs, selected by Dr. Jim Bell, represent some of the finest examples of the art of deep space exploration, most of them involving high-tech robotic emissaries. The images are loosely organized by distance from the Earth, so that readers will slowly travel on a journey farther and farther away from home, ultimately voyaging out to vistas of the farthest-known places in the universe.

Long before humans wrote, we painted. From mud and ash to acrylic and computers, artists across the centuries have found countless inventive ways to explore and express some of life’s biggest mysteries. Enter space art, a genre of artistic expression that strives to capture the wonders of our universe. This lavishly illustrated book chronicles the remarkable development of space art from a fledgling theme to a modern movement. In Part I, we traverse the history of art and astronomy from ancient times, through the Industrial Revolution, and into the 20th-century Space Age. Part II delves into the diverse techniques and subgenres of space art, where you will learn about things like rocks and balls, hardware art, and cosmic expressionism. Along the way, we’ll stop at places where neither humans nor spacecraft can easily go, from the scorching surface of Venus and the radiation-soaked volcanoes of Io to the alien terrain of exoplanets and the depths of distant galaxies. Featuring hundreds of original color images from space artists and astronomers alike, this book is a vivid visual story about the power of art, astronomy, and human curiosity. A heavily revised edition of the original Beauty of Space, it will entertain, educate, and inspire anybody who yearns to make sense of the strange and surreal sights in our universe.

Few of us can venture outside on a clear, dark night and not pause for a silent, reflective look at the stars. For countless centuries people have felt a sense of wonder about the heavens. How did our universe come into being? Has it always been here? Is our existence due to random chance or supernatural design? Is God "out there"? If so, what is He like? Traditionally, the church has answered such questions with Scripture, while science has contributed theories and formulas of its own. Torn between a deep respect for church doctrines and an intellectual need for answers that support what their senses are telling them, many Christians have avoided such discussions altogether. Actually, the two sides are no longer that far apart. In The Creator and the Cosmos, astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross explains how recent scientific measurements of the universe have clearly pointed to the existence of God. Whether you're looking for scientific support for your faith or new reasons to believe, The Creator and the Cosmos will enable you to see the Creator for yourself.

This book explains in clear, non-mathematical language the measurements and the interpretation of the resulting data that have led to the current understanding of the origin, evolution and properties of our expanding Big Bang universe. Theoretical concepts are emphasized, but no other book for the layman explains how model universes are generated, and how they function as the templates against which ours is compared and analyzed. Background material is provided in the first four chapters; the current picture and how it was attained are discussed in the next four chapters; and some unsolved problems and conjectured solutions are explored in the final chapter.

Argues that theoretical physics and cosmology can provide a key to overcoming race-related problems, explaining how they enable a means for discussing individual and communal quests for fulfillment beyond racial, ethnic, class, and sexual barriers. Original.