Space and Art

    Space is incredibly fascinating, and I have always loved watching documentaries about space and new discoveries that scientists are finding about it. However, I had never considered the connection between science and art. This weeks subject addressed the leading scientist in astronomy; copernicus, and the earliest models and understandings of the universe, as well as more recent astronomers and their discoveries such as buckyballs in solid forms within space. Prior to that, they had only been found in gas form. Advanced telescopes have made it possible for us to detect molecules in space that have allowed us to understand the universe better. To me, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this weeks lesson was the science fiction ideas which have been developed such as a space elevator. Space based science fiction consistently tests the boundaries and creativity of scientists and artists.

    As discussed in Lecture Part 1, Arthur C Clarke published a science fiction book in 1979 which was set in the 22nd century, and described a space elevator with an orbital tower that links with a satellite at 36,000 km. The amazing thing about science fiction of the past is that, sometimes, it turns into genuine scientific possibilities, and this may became the case with the space elevator.

     I am extremely interested in space and science fiction films and movies, however, I often scoff at the ideas that are in them and feel as though they will undoubtedly never happen. While this may be true a lot of the time, it is certainly not always true. I recently went to the Natural History Museum in New York city and watched their planetarium special called the Dark Universe. In this film I learned about just how far away we are from potentially habitable planets. The idea of travelling hundreds of thousands of lightyears away to get to our "new home" in the distant future, doesn't even sound futuristic but completely impossible to me. In the film Interstellar, however, there is a "worm hole" which allows such a long journey to be possible. 

While I have no way of knowing what will happen in the world of science and space in the future, nor am I a theoretical physicist, I have watched enough documentaries and read enough about the subject to learn that the impossible can become possible over time in this regard. As for the film interstellar, there is a novel that describes the science behind it called "The Science of 'Interstellar' Explained'  which is a nonfiction book that is written by an actual theoretical physicist, as he explains all of the science behind the film which was not merely fabricated by artists. When you consider all of NASA's work with telescopes, photographs, videos, and the way in which their work makes films on the subject possible, it becomes vry clear how science and art are interacting with regards to space. A simple look through the images gallery on NASA's website provide insight into the beauty of space, and even its possibilities as they combine science and art to create images of what could be. The image below is of a "spiral" galaxy called NGC 684, which NASA's Hubble captured.

  

   To me, Intersteller represents the intersection of space, science, and art, as it uses film to push the boundaries of what we know to be true about space and the future. As it has been in the past, science fiction films and books have become very close to reality, and I feel that those art forms are a huge contributor to the scientific world as they both explain these topics to people who are not involved in it, and intersect with as well as push the goals and boundaries of theoretical physicists that are working on turning these fictitious ideas into realistic ones. 

Works Cited

"Lecture Part 2" Unit 9. Victoria Vesna. Film.

Thorne, Kip S., and Christopher Nolan. The Science of Interstellar. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Wimmer, Josh. "In Arthur Clarke's Fountains of Paradise, Man Makes Tidy Work of the Heavens." Io9. N.p., 07 Nov. 2010. Web. 30 May 2016.

NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 30 May 2016.

Interstellar. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. Warner Brothers Pictrues, 2015. DVD.