Science and Art at the February Monthly Meeting

The blending of science and art was a theme at the February ASNH meeting at the Leitner Observatory.  Michael Miller gave a presentation entitled “The artistic representation of celestial objects as an incentive for improving observational skills.”  Miller has been practicing art with various media for about two decades, and he has created many drawings and paintings based on his views through the telescope.  His media range from colored pencils on paper to oil and acrylic paints on wood or canvas.  His usual method is to make rough sketches and take notes while observing through the eyepiece, and then to make his final sketches or paintings indoors at a later time.  In this hands-on presentation, Miller passed around some samples of his work, including drawings and paintings of craters on the Moon, the clouds of Jupiter, and deep-sky objects. Several members of the audience remarked that Miller’s beautiful works had inspired them to try their own hands at some astronomical art.

After Miller’s talk, Al Washburn told the group about an assignment he has given to his high school astronomy classes. Each student picks a constellation and creates a poster that visually depicts the constellation and provides information about the stars and deep-sky objects within its borders.  Over the years, Washburn has collected hundreds of these projects, and many are quite impressive both artistically and for the information they contain.