Black hole

[davidwpack]

The first images ever of a black hole (our own) is supposedly being released today! Live conferences are being broadcasted from numerous places. Edit: Beginning at 0900?

[shooter]

the images and science are pretty cool, I'm always amazed at humans narcissistic, selfie diluted, "view" of present events as somehow unique   

I started this painting as an "event horizon", ended a little more Religious as "conflict resolution" 

[davidwpack]

Cool painting!

[sluckey]

Love the topic and pic. But what a boring presentation. They need some of those Ancient Alien characters to spice it up a little. Where were you Georgio?

[davidwpack]

Yeah, no doubt. We were supposed to get an image of Sagittarius A but they're just showing M-87s black hole. I'm not seeing anything about ours. M-87 was supposed to be a bonus.

[Ritchie200]

Shooter,
I met an artist back in the early 90's that did all the artwork that you see on the Star Trek TNG series. It included hung artwork in the Enterprise, star base, and planet interior space, and also some matte work for model backgrounds.  Lots of planets, nebula, etc.  REALLY cool stuff!  I asked him how he did the stars because they seemed so perfectly random.  He reached down into his bag and pulled out a toothbrush and smiled.  Basically 90%white, 8% blue, and 2% red paint (separately) on the brush and pull your thumb across the bristles.  He said it took quite a while to hone his toothbrush skill but the results are amazing.  I'll have to dig up his name.  I bought one of his works but it is packed away right now.

I love this stuff.  The space telescopes are getting amazing images.  I always geek out on the Mike Rowe narrated space shows on TV even though they all have "the earth is staring down the barrel of a quasar that will wipe us out!" or "a planet killer asteroid is coming our way!" or "a rogue planet will pull us out of orbit to certain destruction!", etc, etc, etc......   Its still cool stuff!

Jim

[davidwpack]

Toothbrushes also work well for painting sand and pebbles.

[shooter]

outer space is almost as hard to paint as human form.  My studio has paint spattered everywhere!!  Pam keeps saying, "when we get ready to sell...."  I just reply, but it's a work of art 
Nic, a professional artist friend, showed me his star technique, about same mix you describe, but you "dot" the white, then "poke in", the secondary colors and that's a 3' X 4' canvas 

I think if you were a geek kid when Star trek came out, you were hooked!!  most modern kids don't know what UP looks like 

[jjasilli]

Turns out that a black hole looks like a glazed doughnut.  Perfect for the Milky Way galaxy.

[shooter]

it's no wonder I don't fit!  I'm lactose intolerant 

[Ritchie200]

Back in the 70's and early 80's I always watched Dr. Who on our local PBS station on Sunday nights (This was long before Dr. Who was cool in the US. I was cool before the Dr. was cool... Tom Baker ).  Then again later on Saturday nights with Red Dwarf (Smeg heads unite!).  At the end of these shows Jack Horkheimer, Star Hustler would come on to close out the broadcast day.  Always looked forward to his shows.  He presented in a really cool and easy to understand format and always ended with "Keep looking up!".  Using an Edmunds Scientific "Build your own telescope" book I actually ground my own mirror - although not too well... AND being a child of the space race and many Tom Swift books, I was always looking up anyway.  The sound track on this old recording is as iconic as his farewell.  Sadly he is no longer with us, but as he had cheated death many times in his life with health issues, he already had his headstone finished.  It reads:

"Keep Looking Up" was my life's admonition;
I can do little else in my present position."

Jim

[sluckey]

Ha! You've been reading my journal. I loved all that stuff too. Especially Red Dwarf. Cat was so cool! Brits always had a flare for scifi and the idea of combining it with humor... Great stuff! Neat story too. Much better than some naked chick with perfect tits wandering the streets of London for 90 minutes. I even loved the tight ass humor of Are you being served and Keeping up appearances. Good stuff. Thanks for the memories.

Don't even get me started on Benny Hill!   

[Ritchie200]

Sluckey you are a........

and for those not willing to watch all the way through it includes, "genitalia small and offensive".  I think that pretty much says it all....

SmegginJim