The #Spacetober_challenge @spacetober_challenge day 4 prompt is moon so I’m sharing my Theia #linocut about the formation of our moon. This 6 colour hand printed linocut print illustrates the formation of the Moon in a comic book influenced pop art style. The favoured model of Moon formation is that 4.5 billion years ago, early in the history of our solar system, a Mars-sized astronomical body called Theia crashed 🧵

#sciart #printmaking #planetarySci #geophysics #moon #spacesci #mastoArt

#astronomy #planetarysci

https://fosstodon.org/@andrealuck/114842212205363208

Here is an example of a moon (Phobos) (of Mars) that has too little mass to be rounded under its own gravity. It looks like a potato.

But Phobos does not mean 'potato'. In Greek mythology, Phobos and Deimos are personifications of fear, specifically panic (Phobos) and terror (Deimos). They are sons of Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus).

So if we ever colonize Mars, we get to look up at two moons that are the personifications of fear. Which would be appropriate if a certain person colonizes Mars first.

For the #Spacetober prompt future, my speculative little painting of a future where tourists can visit Venus. With 90 times Earth’s atmospheric pressure & a surface temperature which can reach 460°C & melt lead, high altitude balloons have been proposed as perhaps the only likely human habitat on Venus. Short term high altitude balloons with instruments have been used to gather data there…. Who knows? Maybe one day they will house people.

#sciart #SpaceArt #Venus #planetarySci #travelPoster