June 14, 2014

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Eyeing Us

LPOD-Jun14-14.jpg
Konstantin Bogaevsky, "Memories of Mantegna," 1910 image of painting from Priscilla Frank in The Huffington Post

The Moon is inspiring. For us who observe with telescopes it is a wondrous sight to behold every day and night that we catch it. But it has also inspired painters, including the Russian Bogaevsky, who created today's LPOD in 1910. This is one of twenty that a writer brought together for a story on Moon paintings. In this painting the Full Moon's effect is magnified by a vast series of halos, and clouds that arch over it like an eyebrow. It almost seems ominous, but the lack of people in the scene reduces that aspect; in fact, even the idea of a big creature overlooking all is weakened by the lack of people. Is everyone hiding inside? (If the eyeball is this big the whole creature must be a giant.) Perhaps it is just reciprocating our interest, staring down at us as we point our telescopes towards it.

Chuck Wood

Yesterday's LPOD: Extreme Earthshine

Tomorrow's LPOD: Probing the Moon



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