Art Block Collection: Planetary Exploration

 These paintings by the artist is part of a study based on astronomical objects in his training journey.


Sun

Shining Sun, acrylic on art block, 2018

The Sun is a main sequence star that is located 1500 million kilometers away from Earth. It is a huge ball of hot, burning gases including hydrogen and helium. The sun has a thin layer of atmosphere called the corona. Measuring about 1,392,000 kilometers in diameter, the sun is so large that a million Earths could fit into it, but it is still considered small compared to a lot of other stars as it is in its early stages of development.


Mercury

Mercury A, acrylic on art block, 2018
Mercury B, acrylic on art block, 2018

Named after the messenger of the Roman gods (Greek equivalent: Hermes), Mercury is the smallest of the four rocky planets. Its surface is covered with craters, just like the surface of the Moon. The craters on Mercury measure up to tens of kilometers high. Also like the Moon, it has plains, mountains and valleys, but does not have an atmosphere, thus the sky on Mercury appears dark. Mercury has no moons.



Venus

Venus A, acrylic on art block, 2018
Venus B, acrylic on art block, 2018
Venus (Cloudy), acrylic on art block, 2018

Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty (Greek equivalent: Aphrodite). This brightly-colored planet is also known as the "greenhouse" planet due to having a high content of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. Unlike the other planets in the Solar System, Venus rotates from east to west, which means the Sun rises from the west on Venus. Its size and age is around the same as Earth's, but is slightly smaller. Due to the abundance of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, Venus has the hottest surface temperature of all the planets in the Solar System, at approximately 460 degrees Celsius. Like Mercury, Venus has no moons.



Earth

Earth: Western Hemisphere with Clouds, acrylic on art block, 2018
Earth: Eastern Hemisphere, acrylic on art block, 2018

Earth is the fifth largest planet and the largest rocky planet in the Solar System. It is the only place in the universe that is inhabited by living things. It has a layer of air called the atmosphere, which protects the Earth's surface from solar winds and harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun as well as radiation from outer space. More than 70 per cent of Earth's surface is covered in water.



Moon

Moon, acrylic on art block, 2018
Moon B, acrylic on art block, 2018

The Moon is the Earth's only natural satellite which is located 384,400 kilometers from Earth. It does not have any light on its own but reflects light from the Sun to the Earth's surface. The Moon's surface is dry, dusty and covered with craters, mountains and valleys. The Moon has no atmosphere.


Mars

Mars, acrylic on art block, 2018
Mars V2, acrylic on art block, 2018
Mars (Cloudy), acrylic on art block, 2018
Mars, Phobos and Deimos, acrylic on art block, 2018

Mars is also known as the Red Planet and is named after the Roman god of war (Greek equivalent: Ares). It is the second smallest of the rocky planets, with a surface area being a quarter of that of Earth's and its mass is only a tenth of Earth's. The Red Planet has a dry, rocky surface covered in dust and reddish sand and an atmosphere mostly composed of carbon dioxide. The Martian poles contain frozen water and carbon dioxide. Mars has two moons, named Phobos and Deimos, which names mean "fear" and "terror" in Greek.


Jupiter

Jupiter, acrylic on art block, 2018
Jupiter B, acrylic on art block, 2018
Jupiter and Galilean Moons, acrylic on art block, 2018

Named after the king of the Roman gods (Greek equivalent: Zeus), Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System. With an atmosphere mostly made up of hydrogen and helium gas, it is 320 times heavier than Earth and could fit every planet in the Solar System. Jupiter served as a "protector" of Earth and the rocky planets, as its strong gravity and magnetic field is able to deflect objects from hitting them. Jupiter has a large, red spot called the Great Red Spot, which is actually a massive anticyclonic storm which produces a high-pressure region, the largest of such in the Solar System. It has a large number of moons, which is 79, and four of its largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, were discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei.


Ganymede, acrylic on art block, 2018

Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon and the largest moon in the Solar System. It is 26 per cent larger than the planet Mercury by volume, although is is only 45 per cent as massive. Its surface is also covered in craters. Ganymede is named after a Greek mythological hero who was abducted by the gods to serve as Zeus's cup-bearer in Olympus.


Saturn

Saturn A, acrylic on art block, 2018

Saturn and Moons, acrylic on art block, 2018

Saturn is the second largest planet in the Solar System, and is named after the Roman god of agriculture (Greek equivalent: Cronus). Like Jupiter, it is a gas giant planet which had an atmosphere made of hydrogen and helium. It has a ring system measuring 270,000 kilometers in diameter and less than 100 meters thick, and can be divided into 7 major sections. The rings mostly comprise of ice crystals with a small amount of rocky material and dust, which range in size from being as small as fingernails to the size of a bus. 82 moons orbit Saturn, making it have the most moons in the Solar System so far. Its largest moon is Titan, the second largest moon in the Solar System and the largest moon with an atmosphere.


Uranus

Uranus, acrylic on art block, 2018
Uranus and Moons, acrylic on art block, 2018

Uranus is the third largest planet in the Solar System and one of the gas giants. Discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel in 1781, Uranus is named after the Greek god of the heavens. It is unique among the planets of the Solar System because its axis of rotation is tilted at almost 90 degrees, making it almost parallel to its orbit around the Sun. It has a ring system similar to Saturn's but is thinner and darker. The turquoise color of Uranus is produced by the abundance of methane gas in its atmosphere. Uranus has 27 moons, including Titania, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel and Oberon.



Neptune

Neptune, acrylic on art block, 2018
Neptune with Moons, acrylic on art block, 2018

Named after the Roman god of the sea (Greek equivalent: Poseidon), Neptune is the fourth largest planet and the smallest of the Solar System's gas giants. It was discovered in 1846 by a team of three astronomers from Germany, France and Britain. Neptune takes almost 165 Earth years to orbit the Sun due to its position. Neptune is dark blue in color, owing to the methane gas in its atmosphere, similar to Uranus. It has an Earth-sized spot called the Great Dark Spot which is also a massive storm with winds travelling to speeds of up to 2400 kilometers an hour, making them the strongest winds ever recorded on any planet in the Solar System. Neptune has 14 moons, the largest of which is Triton, the coldest moon in the Solar System.


Pluto

Pluto and Charon, acrylic on art block, 2018
Pluto and Charon B, acrylic on art block, 2018

Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Pluto is named after the Roman god of the underworld (Greek equivalent: Hades). It has been considered a planet for a long time since its discovery until the International Astronomical Union (IAU) reclassified it as a dwarf planet. The first high quality pictures of Pluto were taken by the space probe New Horizons in 2015 as it flew by. Pluto has five moons, the largest being Charon, which is almost half the size as itself.

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