l I

PARALLAX

1985 WINTER SOLSTICE

I JOURNAL OF THE

.. , .... , ..... . , .. " ~ .. ~ ... "~ .. ,, ... ........ "

STEERING COMMITTEE (Note : Elections will eliminate this committee in 1986)

Michael Carroll 5121 Canosa Aven ue San Diego , CA 921 1 7

Klm Poor PO Box 37197 Tuscan , AZ 85704

MEMBERSHIP/ SECRETARY

Maralyn Vicary 1201 East Ponde r osa Flagstaff , AZ 86001

TREASURER

Asenath Hammond 209 West Ya l e Loop Irvine , CA 92714

PRESS LIAISON

Andrew Chaikin 22 For est Street Cambridge , MA 02140

VQWME 2 ~ NUMBER 4

Rick Sternbach 209 West Yale Loop Irvine , CA 92714

Pa rkway #201A

AROI I VIST

Laurie Or tiz 339 w. Unive r sity Avenu(' HfI San Diego , CA 92103

WINTER 1985

PARALLAX is published quarte r ly by the I nternat i ona l Associati on of Astronomical Artis ts. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission . All r i ghts are the property or the authors/a r tists to whom the work is atLri.buled .

SUBSCRIPTIONS TO PARALLAX ARE $10 . 00 A YEAR, PAYABLE TO lAAA. ALL ORDERS AND CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE SENT TO THE EDITORS AT :

209 West Yale Loop Irvine , CA 92714-4570 USA

© 1985 IAAA

. PARALLAX EDITORIAL MATTER

Don Dixon & R. Sternbach . EDS.

Okay, we ' ve cauo;,ht up aqain with the PAAAUAX publication schedule . 'Itti s is the l ast i ssue for 1985 j the first i ssue o f 1986

will be printed on or alx:Jut ApI'll 7 .

'Ihat issue will inc lude CX)Vur.:lgc o f the l-lawa i i WOrkshop. We

warn tDose of you who p l an t o atte nd that your (.-'Ci i tors would very

much like to corner you, both inchvidually and as a group. for interviews , impressions , dnd d.rtic l es . The workshop will be an excellent opp:>rtunity for us to e xchallCJe ideas and t echniques and ,

with any luck at all , we ' ll have enough material for PARALLAX for a coupl e of issues !

In this issue , we ' r e printing news of the OTHER I.ORLDS show.

which has finally been picked up by the As sociation of Science and Technical Centers (ASIC) . You ' ll find it on one full page , quite se l f-explanato ry , and s ideways , since reducing it would have mode

it a bit WlCeadabl e . amm....auns will be louring the country as various museums and science centers txx:.k the s how, and in the

process exp:x;e the publi c to !lDre s pace art (oot to mention spread Ule word about lAAA) . l11dnks to Ki m Poor for ac ting as liasan beLweet'l lMA allel A!:."TC on the drralllj(.'lllCnts and La Mike Carroll for sending the c l ippirKJ .

Wc ' r e also encl OSl.ng a bit o f p • .Ipen.ork to brighten your day .

Membershi p renewal s are dn inevil<tble part of keeping Lhis or qanization 9Oill9 , a s is the electi on qucs LiQfllli.l i re (actives only) you ' ll find . I ' m sure you ' ll thank us fo r not aski ng your blocd type .

See you aft er the workshop.

Rick Stenltxac h

• • An Open Lettef: t.o the ~p of the rMA

The International Assoc i ation of Astroocmical Arti s t s has made great strides since the Death Valley Workshop in December, 1983 . n lC machinery for our association i s in pl ace . What remains is for

us to mature into a truly i nternational network . 'I1le process is

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beginniny to happen in rurnest and can be seen in the form of

overwhelmingly p:::!si ti ve resrnnses to our art shows . including inquiries and invitations fran all over t he world.

with the gr~h of our organi zation we have reached the (:Oint where tile triullIverate steering comUttee in no l onger necessary .

nor is it the IlOs t e(fective way of doing things. Now, in 1986,

tJle steering camtittee will be d i ssolved and replaced by the following three offices:

President

Vice President in charge of Internal Affairs Vice President i n charge of External Affairs

All other elected positions will remain the same.

President : The President will be responsible for helping the Vice Presidents perform their duties . The president will organize

and delegate to provide appropriate workl oads and assure the srrooth operation of tile offices . The President and VPs will IMke up tJle Credentials Connd ttee t o screen membership applications .

Vi ce ~t in c:bacge of Inter:na.l Aft:aics: This officer wil l work with the Membershi p/Secretary , Treasurer, and Arc hivist ,

and will advise the President on action to be taken on intenlal affairs . The VPIA will facilitate (but not necessarily solely

organi ze) opportunities for members ' artistic growth , such as \o,Orkshops . seminars , et cetera.

Vice President in c:barqe of K:Irte.r:nal Aff.a.irs : The VPEA will

work with the Press Liason to prarote the IAAA. Art s hows , auct i ons , artist interviews with the press , and otJler outside activities come under the jurisdiction of the VPEA.

The other elected offices and the people currently holding those JX>Sitions are:

Membership/Secretary Treasurer

Press Liason Archivist

Mara l yn Vicary /\senath lIanmond

Andrew Chaikin Lauri e Ortiz

'l'le term of office for each fX)sition will be two years.

Mic.:hae l W. Carroll

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NElJS BITS Market/Ernployn~nt Report

John Mosely seflt us the follOWing flews:

" We have a vacancy for a full-tim:> astrooanical artist at the Grif fith Observatory . If you know of anyone who might be

interested , ask tilem to contact rne by neil at 2600 East Observatory

Road. Los Angel es , CA 9CXl27 . I ' ll be off chasing Halley ' s Comet.

through South All~rica unlil mid-April , and won ' t be able to reply until then . Thanks ."

•

An exhibition of oil paintings by Chesl ey Sanestell recently

concluded at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D. C. The exhibition of 34 originals , dating fran 1943 to 1979, was

arr anged by Space Act Int ernational . SAl ' s (X)I'lServator , lAAA Associ ate Member Frederick C. Durant III. has passed a l ong news

clippings and an exJlibition catal ogue. rAM menV:iers wi 11 probably

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------------------------------------

recall many of the pieces from their titles alone. Durant , who has previously arranged exhibitions of works by

various space artists, continues to prarote the field on an intecrlCltiollal sca le with recent and forthcoming trips abroad . He

is involved with an exhibition of s pac:e al"t as part of "Space 86" , a L~lebration of the 350th anniversary of the University of Utrecht in the Nethec1ands . "Space 86" will be held from Hay 3-June 29 ,

1986, and is being organized by science writer Dr . Chriet Titulaer .

~ JlIht flhlbd

/tr«-SI. il«Ul "" BIIJr SIwU SllI.oo "" ~erI/fy o.e.-~ flll/CJ1C11 "" t~ BIc.I 00 New YOI'k ill(} iOllg I$J¥tIJ "" ~ SI~llOIIlIID Supply Sh/l! ,~,

~tf)/ry 01 'l1li11 51. "" As5M!l1Iy 01 1on4'l(J(MI1ftJ ~t s.tt.ps 1/1 ()/)jl ,%, CIIIIsJruc/ooo 01, Sp/ltl1UI $pJu SlillOfI '~9 I'Itplf~ 10 UnfI OIl lite Uooo "" (6/IIIJfrIQ t/le I'I¥u 01 s.n.s IIoos "" AsUIIItOII>ICII ~1I01)' 00 l/Ie MoM ,%, I rxIfU lJVIII S~ flom /MIl"", 1912

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IIw AWl .... fltt! AsstmlJ/ts III (If/h 01/111 "" Mwi/il MMs ()/lj/ "" AUtI "0m OrilnOl "" .wMs from PIto«Js "" JutMltf"s V!oo!rtJ/ SuttiCt ,%, ..""Itf FllIfflll#O(U

,,.. ~ltlf From f,,/llil (NJ 1919

SIIi#II f,om I/s AIoon. /'/61 ,%, Ilhu. ,Sill.flllfllJ 5Hcta1ll 1912

Si' .... from Irs .woon MmIs ,~,

_SII.m~~ 1911 AlrtJ I'tdo l rlalUllltf 1912 BtI~ Olen '%1 "''''''' 1970

5fcooII 51. ~111(l(1 ,~,

I~GtUl Will ,,..

SW-IllAeaTf ,,..

U~IM '~1 SMI#II6:i ~tom IIl1>/Sia Su«fl) " 60 bpIot~ Mrs (SlIt Su«fl) ""

• • with the Vernal Equinox i ssue of PARALLAX for 1986 will come

the firs t installment of the SpIce Artist. Hard:Jook. This first

mailing will consist mainly of section dividers and r eprints of

~st PARALLAX articles which are app!icabl~ to tl~ tlandboak.

I n order, the sections are:

Topics in Spac."e Art-­

Astronomical Objects

Space Hardware

Mathematics and Ccrnputers

D(:afting and Projection

TOols and MaLerials

Painting and Drawing 'rechniques-­

Ai rbrush

(Other Subtopics to be Added)

Care and Presentation of Art

Business Affai rs

Mi scellaneous Notes

Subtop ics will be added as members contribute material for

publication .

If you have a favor ite subject or tip {as we have strongly

hinted in the ()lst ) . write scmething on it for the I:tardxxlk. As

soon as enough material is gathered for a full ()lye on any topic

(a la Dick Tracy ' s Crimestopper ' s Textbook) , it wi l l be printed up

and mai l ed .

• •

MEMBERSHIP NOTICE A (:cmindc c to <I ll continuing members o f the lAM; Your

lfCIubershi p renewal forms are enclosed . Please ~ ~y so

tJlat we can up::!ate our fl I es for 1986.

For those of you who are rel atively new to lAM and joined

late i n 1985, a part of your rrerbership has been carried over inLo

1986 and your adjusted dues have been indicated on your forms .

This yea.r, a ll paid-up ~rs will receive membership cards.

Your renewal, dues , and election ava ilability form may be

returne:i together in tJle envel ope prov ided .

lAAA Missing PerSOfl; If anyone has Jim Hervat ' s current

address, please let us k.no.,o here at PARALLAX. Thanks •

JIO'(RTANI',

Enclosed with this issue you will find a form ask.ing whe ther

or not you would be wi lling to CWl Cor a part icular office and

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accept the p:>sition for- the tlooO-year- period. Please ~ this

(001 as 9XJfl as JXlSS;b1e_ The sooner we know who will be available

fo r Ule election , the better . The 1986 Vernal I:quinox issue of PARALLAX will contain an officia l nominating form and a Ust of those persons who will not accept nominations .

Q-Jc;e we have received the ncmination forms , election ba llots will be mailed .

• • •

Workshops

Iceland S~te Bid Urged

Dear COlleagues and Fellow lJ\AA Mefrbers:

As you hit the s lopes of Kiluea Iki , Mauna Ulu , Mauna Kea , and

whalever geol ogica l tidbits you may stlJlble up:l!1 , I hoJ;e you gain

as rN.lch enjoyment and artistic inspiration as I did when 1 attended the first Space Art Workshop there several years a9O . I t takes a lot of long term planning to p..at together SCIlEthing like this . and

il is time to be thinking of the next site .

Much discussion has centered around Iceland , and for good

reason . According to Dr . Eliot /'brris, I cel and and the Arctic Circle pcovide the most Mars-like terrain on Earth . He is i n the

process of writing a b::ok on this very subject . Dr . Baerbel

Lucchitta . also of the USGS, has done extensive IooOrk on Mars-Earth erosion ana l ogues (as can be seen in her paper "Mars and Earth: Ccrnparison of Col d-Climate Features" 1. I have enclosed several of

her papers for folks to ga.....k. at during the workshop. I hope they will inspir e IlW.Ich discussion . But the IlOSt o:::nstructive discussion will be done by those who wi.ll organize the workshop. To give us ., ample planning time , I believe an Icelandic assault should be

)

.)

planned for the SU'lTlleC of 1988. As you can by the enclosed t r ovel ) information (also avai loble at the workshop --Editors I . facilities are readily availobl e , as is transJX)rtation . We just need a few

PlOple to do scme ca lling and or ganizing . 'tour expenses will be

reinbtrsed by the lAM (that is, reasonable expenses! ).

Those of us who have hosted workshops before will be happy to give advice and help . PLEASE - - we need you to make this happen. Sane of the most alien terra i n on this pla net awaits our a rtistic

eyes !

=11

If you would 1 ike me collect at (619)

to help, please 292-5460.

contact Bill Itartl1\'mn o r

01 behalf of all merrbers of the lAl\A, thanks!

Michael W. Carro ll

•

THE KEYBORRD RRTlST The Comp ut er Sees Uranus by Joel Hagen

With the Voyager Uranus encounler at hand , r have had my

astroncmical graPlics software produce tJlese schematic images of Uranus fran each of its rroons . 1 have used a consistant field of

view of 40 degrees to qlve a clear feeling of the i ncreasinq o rbital distance of the rroons , frem Miranda at 130 , 000 km. to

Oberon at 587.000 km .

[Editors ' note: Since we received these pcintouts . Voyager has indeed made its historic r-endezvous with Uranus . Not only did

the spececraft send rock amazingly clear closeup pictures of Miranda ' s odd terrain , but it discovered a number of new rroons and rings . We will present reJX)rts on various aspects of the Uranus encounter in upccming issues of PAR.o\LU\X . I

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Astronomical Artists Blend Fact and Fantasy in Other Worlds

~

"Iapetus. "~' .Hichael Carroll depicts tbe eighth moon ofS(lturn. bnght on one bern· isphere a1Ui CUlrk on the other: Saturn is serm in tbe dis((mce. mare tban 2 million miles au 'U)~ Other Worlds begins its A5TC tOur lbtS summer:

U you 're impatiently a't'."::Iiting the first tourist·class fl ight to another planet. can· sider :lStronomicalm as a way to assuage thaI cr:lving to e.xplore unkno\vn worlds. A col lection of 57 paintings offering :llien landscapes and other unearthly scenes will begin :l lour of C.S. museums Ihis summer. sponsored by the ASTC Travel­ing Exhlbilion Sen:ice. The exhibition ..... "lS organized by the Imem:luonal.-\s.So­ciation of .-\Stronomlc:lI.-\n:1Sts and made its debul JTl :-'larch 198--1 al tilt:: Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and SCience Cemer in ~n Otego.

The ar1lSts (some ofv,:hose v,u rk h:Ls al­ready been featured in Disco,.er. Omm. and other sCience m:lglZines) use sClen· uric data and photogr:lphiC imlges sent by satellite to conjure up sights yet un­seen b~' the human eye. The splCe :lnists comb ine this in formation With \'i slts [0

places on earth Ih:ll best illwm:lte how our ov.·n planet was formed-De:llh \":.il · ley :lnJ the :-'launa 1..o:l crater. foreXlmple. The pa!Tltings in Qt/JeT Wor ltts con\"(~y a sen~t: of desolate and exouc. yet f.::tmili:lr. tt:rr:.lln.

rur bookmg inform:l1ion. c:l1l 202rl · In .

Cre a t e Your Own Ca.etl

With all of the interest generated by canet Halley and the

flotilla of s pacecraft that have f l ashed by taking c lose-up photos , it i s no wonder that saroone has cane up with a f Orn.lla for making a canet right here an Earth .

Hike Carroll sent the following r ecipe and P'loto, and writes: ''The canet nucle us comes out looking quite interesting -- I wonder if ~ Vegas and Giotto will return images that look like our silwlated dirty Sl'IO\IIball. "

2 cups of water (hydrogen and oxygen)

2 tsp. of sand or dirt A few drops o f anm:Jnia

2 cups of dry ice (carbon dioxi de) '" 5-10 Ib block

Combine the first 3 ingredients i n a p lastic ixlwl. Use <I

hallIl.er or mallet to c rus h the dry ice into fine crystals ( puL the block of dry i ce into 2-3 garbage bags, one inside the other , before crushing) . Add the c rushed dry ice to the mixture until it

begins to thicken , stirring rapidly a ll the tirr.e . Shape the fro.:ell mixture into a ball .

Now that you ' ve created your o.m canet. don ' t forget to fIclI!Ma

it !

OOI'E: WEAR GI..DVES ro PREVENI' BEIU; BURNED B'f THE DRY ICE.

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Product Review

'ItIe Halley Project: A M.i !:ision in CAlr Sol ar s ystem. Tan Snyder

Productions ; Minciscape , Inc . Software for Atari and Camodore; $22 .95 to 44 .95. 48K.

At last ! Here ' s a program for those folks who don ' t want to

use a calculator to figure out angular sizes and who have t en minut.es to spare between paintings .

Halley Project is handsomely packaged with a star chart

depicting the zodiacal constellations . an audio "briefing" cassette. and a top secret "Mission Technical Reference Guide" .

The gaue pranise is simple : you have been chosen fran the ranks of the best space pilots to cx::rnpete fo r a s}:Ot an the "Halle y Project" . 'fau must first cx::rnplete a series of missions, starting fran a base on ~lalley ' s Ccmet (which i s always rroving, as befits a

proper canet) . and piloting your hypers patial craft to various sol ar system txxI.ies .

There are t\loO screens: a " radar" node showing a }:Olar view o f the solar system and a control p:mel with an out-the-wiJ"lCio,.J

displ ay . If, for example. your objective is Jupiter , you would first locate the s}:Ot of light representing Jupiter on the radar

map. Jupiter might be "in" Soorpio as seen fran your current position. Switching to the main control panel , you then pan across Lhe ecliptic s tarfields until SOOrpio is centered . Jupiter will

a~ar as an WlCharted star. Pushing the joystick forward dcce l erates you quickly to the speed of light. If this i s tao slow - - .. nd it. is, Jupiter mi9ht well be aver an hour away at this ral.e

-- you can ~t the pedal to the metal and hap into hyperspace . You

s low down by hiltinq the Spilce bar . If you haven ' t overshot , Jupiter is like ly t o have s hifted a bil against the star background due to parallax . Easing forward on the stick again, you find a

confortable approach speed . say 50, 000 kps . And Jupiter grows • •• To anyone with a passing acquaintance with the sol ar system,

the qaue is only mildl y challenging . The r ea l fWI is the graiYtics .

We've all enjoyed Jim Blinn ' s oan~ter animated VOYilger s ilnul ations . llalley Project allows us to do sanething similar at 1'latIl!. The algori thm generating the grapllcs not on l y canputes the

proper apparent si.:e of the txx1y, but the location of the

terminator as well . Before writing this , I did a leisurely flyby of Ganymede .

Jupiter bul ked large on the right side of the screen a nd Ganymede was a mere star in the distance . As 1 approached, panning my "canE!ra" to keep it centered on Ganymede, the satelli t e grew into a

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full disk , then shifted rapidly against the star background,

s hrinking inlO a thin crescent . I stopped dead in space at a IXlint

wtIere Jupi U!C and Ganymede had the same appi3rent si~ . Jupiter was

961 , 856 kilaneters away and Ganymede was 35 ,180 . Si nce Jupiler is

about. 27 limes bigger than Ganymede , that. distance rdlio checks out.

nicely . Incidenta lly , while I was dead in Sp:lce, checking the size

calculations , Ganymede shifted ever so Slightly in p:>siUon ; the

program a l oo takes i nto account t he orbital nutions of the

satellites !

'Ille screen refreshes about four tinE!s (:er second, so the

animatioo is fairl y sroooth. Unfortunately, all of the planets are

...t1i te , and none of them have rings -- not even oo-planar lines

across the equator . Since we are (X)f1strained to the equatorial

plane, it would have been nice (and probably fairly simple) to

implement sare sort o f ring representation . Landing on a planet is

SCI'I'eWhat disapp:;linting: all you see are different colored crater

fields . But these are minor canplaints . 'nm cleverness of the

program beocrnes r ea U y evident when you r e t urn to the Halley ' s

Comet base . The lines defining the boundries of the tail a l ways

converge on the sun, and you can obtain sare dramatic views if you

coast toward the head of the o::met just outside the tail. In fact ,

this unusual perspective inspired a recent pa.inting .

hlIich makes the 9~ deductable .

Don Dixon

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