Orbital Maneuvers: The International Space Station is a key element in the survival of the astronauts of NASA's space shuttle Endeavour

As of mid-September 2019 there were just over 4050 confirmed exoplanets. A small percentage of those are the right size, in the right orbit around their stars to have liquid water available and may potentially have environments that could harbor life as we know it. Extrapolating our small sample of stars and the planets that orbit them to the Milky Way Galaxy at large, there may be hundreds of billions of exoplanets out there, with billions in the habitable zones of stars. But it doesn't stop there, because if we consider that many of these planets may have moons, which may also have the right properties to support support life as we know it, the number of habitable celestial bodies could be in the hundreds of billions. What about life as we don't know it?

With all those planets out there we have a lot of exploring to do! In “Night Expedition” a group of future space explorers examine a newly discovered moon orbiting a ringed gas giant.


Home Chapters Space Shuttle Space Station CRV and Soyuz Asteroids Author's Bio Buy - Contact - Copyright Wallpapers	Wallpapers: Images from other places and times Below are some of my dabblings into the world science fiction themed art. Click on the previews for a full size image you can download for personal use. Comments and discussions are always welcome. (rcdavison@orbitalmaneuvers.com) Enjoy! Alignment Water on a tidally stressed moon of a gas giant begins to vaporize as the planetary system’s aging star swells in its death throws. Retirement Home With the potential number of habitable exoplanets in the Milky Way Galaxy ranging from 300 million to 6 billion (That’s not counting moons that might be habitable, like Pandora in Avatar.) one might just find this planet. Getting there is another story! Lander "Seven minutes of terror" are magnified a hundred times as a lander lowers a rover to the surface of a cold icy moon with a methane atmosphere and geysers showering the way. JUICE Flyby of Ganymede The European Space Agency’s JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) flies over Ganymede during its mission to explore Ganymede, Europa, Callisto and Jupiter. Set to launch in August, 2023 and arrive in the Jovian system in 2031. Pulsar Embers The ruins of a city on a circumbinary planet pays mute homage to the pulsar left in the wake of a supernova of one of the stars. The planet's atmosphere was stripped away in the cataclysm, and its surface is now bathed in X-rays from the young pulsar; one can only hope that it's inhabitants had the technology to escape in time. Harvest Moon and Hallows' Eve Meanwhile, back on Earth it's mid-autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and we celebrate the colors of fall in the setting evening sun with the Harvest Moon. The end of October brings Halloween and we thrill to the those things that lurk in the shadows and go bump in the night! Harvest Moon Hallows' Eve Space is Hard A space crew finds out the hard way that space is hard as they crash-land on a habitable moon that orbits their home world, which is located in a trinary star system. Ring of Fire An aboriginal species gathers for the coming night under the light of a pair of colliding galaxies. How many centuries or millennia will pass before they can appreciate the cosmological dynamics at work in their night sky? Woodland Stream: *Meanwhile, back on Earth...* Ganymede's Morning: The sun rises over Jupiter and lights up the shadows in one of the many grooves that cut across the surface of the largest moon in our solar system. Cassiopeia in 3D: The constellation, Cassiopeia, is a simple constellation known for its asterism of five stars that looks like a "W" with a slight tilt on one side. Four of the five stars of Cassiopeia appear to be very close to the same brightness (Caph, Ruchbah, Schedar and Navi), with one of them slightly dimmer than the rest (Segin). This gives the impression that the stars are all about the same size and distance from Earth, but when we look at the constellation in a 3D projection we can see that they are not. The intrinsic brightness of Ruchbah, Schedar and Navi, (and almost for Segin) compensates for their distance from Earth in such a way that it gives the illusion that they are all at the same distance. See the blog post - Cassiopiea's Illusion for more about this. Evening at the Beach: Take a break, relax and spend an evening at the beach with someone special. With all the planets out there, it's hard to believe that someplace like this doesn't exist. (Companion piece to "Dinner for Two with a View".) Above the Vortex: We have a moon that lights up our night sky, imagine if we were in the halo of a spiral galaxy. Imagine the first travelers into space from the habitable moon that orbits this super-Earth and their amazement when they first viewed their position, suspended over the vortex of the spiral galaxy below. Alternate View: Meanwhile, back on Earth: Two autumn images to celebrate the colorful transition from summer to winter in the Northern Hemisphere: Autumn Morning A doe and her fawn greet the morning Sun on a cool autumn morning. Autumn Leaves in the Wind *Celebrate the colors of autumn!* Sentinel We see these amazing Hubble images of galaxies colliding and it got me wondering about seeing this in one's night sky. Unfortunately, our lifetimes are too minuscule to perceive the changes, but maybe, out there, somewhere, is a living organism whose lifetime extends for eons and it bears witness, as a lone sentinel, to the galactic collision silently unfolding. Waterway Sailing the seas and waterways of an exoplanet, sailors explore their world. In time they'll look to the stars and set out on a journey through celestial waterways of the cosmos. Globular Cluster Rising A globular cluster rises above the horizon of a wind-swept moon of a terrestrial-like planet. These dazzling clusters can contain from hundreds of thousands to millions of stars older than our sun. They are small, only 10 - 300 light-years across compared to our Milky Way Galaxy, which is about 100,000 light-years across. Stellar Systems of Orion The Orion constellation is one of the most distinctive constellations in the sky and is visible from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Its outline is made up of some of the brightest blue-giant stars in the night sky with Rigel leading the group marking Orion's right leg. Betelgeuse, a red super-giant marks Orion's left shoulder. Orion has many other treasures and the stars we see, Rigel, Mintaka (the belt star on the right), Alnitak (the belt star on the left), are not just single stars but are made up of multiple stars orbiting each other. The image below shows these star system, plus an additional one, Sigma Orionis, which is below Alnitak. And, let's not forget about the Orion Nebula, a veritable star factory containing over 3000 stars! (Check out the blog post about these star systems.) Close Call In a game of cosmic billiards a comet threads its way between a planet and one of its moons. We were not as lucky on June 30, 1908 when an asteroid exploded over Tunguska, Russia, leveling trees over 830 square miles (2,150 sq. km). International Asteroid day is celebrated on June 30th to bring attention to the threat asteroids pose to our world. The top image shows a very active comet shrouded in a gaseous coma and generating a blue ion tail along with it's dust tail, while the image on the bottom shows a less active comet nucleus shedding dust, more akin to the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko that ESA's Rosetta mission spent two years studying. Terra Alternatus I’m fascinated with the idea of convergent evolution, where different species can independently evolve the same features over different times or epochs. Extending this to habitable exoplanets makes me wonder if a land-bound species would develop the same technology to sail their seas that we developed on Earth. Is this development driven strictly by the laws of physics? I would expect that those species that gained a deeper understanding of math and the sciences would more rapidly develop the technology to travel to the stars after sailing their oceans. Just one more thing to ponder when you gaze up at the night sky... In the Beginning A rocky planet going through its early stages of evolution as observed from the vantage point of one of its moons, which is also going though the throes of early development. The moon, being smaller than the planet is cooling more quickly and has a thickening crust, which is fractured with numerous volcanoes and rifts. Shipwreck A habitable planet in a trinary star system whose inhabitants have felt the wrath of Mother Nature while sailing its seas. Too often we think of extraterrestrials as more advanced than we are, but we may find that is not the case as we venture out in the cosmos. Ice and Water Exoplanets are sounding more and more appealing with the current state of affairs on our planet Earth. Here's a nice one with some sun, some water, a little bit of ice (Maybe more than a little bit!) and even some fauna flying and swimming through its ecosystems. We just have to find it...and then find a way to get there! Alternate scene: Above the Clouds Back out in the cosmos and cruising through the clouds with some local fauna of a habitable moon of a gas giant. Maybe one day humankind will see something like this firsthand. Meanwhile, back on Earth in the Northern Hemisphere it is autumn: Autumn Morning Colors Autumn Evening Colors Blue Autumn A Really Bad Day! A rogue planet with its accompanying moon slamming into Earth is not something one wants to contemplate, but it's a possible, although not very probable. We have more to worry about from asteroids that are in our solar system or passing through. Some of these are small enough to miss detection, and they can come from any direction. And, they can be large enough to destroy a city...a very big city! Appreciate all that we have today, as we do not know what tomorrow will bring! Orion in 3D Revisited (Featured in Astronomy Picture of the Day) A revised 3D plot of the Orion constellation, based on a new reduction of the Hipparcos data set by F. van Leeuwen, pushes Orion's stars around a bit from an earlier graph I did in 2014. The new data set pushes Orion's middle belt star, Alnilam, out past the nebula, which makes the star much brighter and larger than previously thought. In fact, it now is the brightest star in absolute magnitude in the constellation! See the blog post: Orion in 3D Revisited for more information. If we were to take all the stars of Orion and move them to a distance of 10 parsecs (32.6 light years) from Earth, (The distance used to determine the absolute magnitude for a star.) the constellation would be visible during the daytime! Below is an approximation of what that might look like around noontime. (At night it would be amazing!!) Sail On With over 6 billion potentially habitable planets in our galaxy alone (not to mention any moon that may be habitable), one has to wonder why we have not had contact with ETs. Could be that the speed of light barrier doesn't allow us to conquer the vast distances between the stars, or maybe we are the smartest bunch on the block and everyone else is technologically behind us. Or there is no one else... "Sail On" depicts a planet where the population is using sails to explore their world. Morning Gathering Skimmers gather to feed on aquatic lifeforms that rise to the surface with the light of a new day. Stromatolite-like structures rise from the shallows surrounded by coral monoliths that have weathered the ages. Just another day on distant planet somewhere in the Milky Way. Dusty Mars from Phobos Time to get off planet Earth and back into space! A probe from Earth lands on Mars' largest moon, Phobos, just in time to see a dust storm envelop the red planet. Mars' smaller, more distant moon, Deimos, can be seen of in the distance on the left. Sunset Meanwhile, still back on Earth: Sunrise Cove Meanwhile back on Earth: Frosty Moon At the outer fringes of the habitable zone in a binary star system a snow-covered moon orbits a ringed planet. Despite the frozen environment the moon is teaming with life. The skiing is great! Swimming - not so much! Orion in 3D Orion the Hunter is one of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky, and one of its striking characteristics is the red super-giant star, Betelgeuse, that marks his left shoulder. This star is a variable star that changes in brightness over time, but as of the fall of 2019 it has been steadily dimming. As of February 2020 it has set a new record with its new luminosity and lower temperature. This may be a prelude to the star going supernova, but then again maybe not. Astronomers think that it could be a 100,000 years or more before that will happen. But, then again, there is a lot we don't know about the Cosmos and we are learning more each day. Maybe Betelgeuse will teach us a thing or two! (For more information on Orion and the 3D perspective in the illustration, check out the blog post: The Multidimensional Constellation, Orion.) Volcanos Volcanos, destroyers and builders of worlds. They can shape the geography of a planet with the lava they exude and influence its atmosphere by the gas, ash and other particulates they pump out. This image shows an exoplanet on the outskirts of a galaxy in the neighborhood of a globular cluster. A series of volcanic islands are forming due to plate tectonic, similar to the Hawaiian island chain in the Pacific. Thermal vents may exist in the depths of the oceans nurturing more advanced life... Autumn Stream and Winter Stream Christmas Night Two terrestrial images to enjoy and celebrate the beauty of our planet Earth: Autumn Stream Winter Stream Christmas Night *Night Expedition* As of mid-September 2019 there were just over 4050 confirmed exoplanets. A small percentage of those are the right size, in the right orbit around their stars to have liquid water available and may potentially have environments that could harbor life as we know it. Extrapolating our small sample of stars and the planets that orbit them to the Milky Way Galaxy at large, there may be hundreds of billions of exoplanets out there, with billions in the habitable zones of stars. But it doesn't stop there, because if we consider that many of these planets may have moons, which may also have the right properties to support support life as we know it, the number of habitable celestial bodies could be in the hundreds of billions. What about life as we don't know it? With all those planets out there we have a lot of exploring to do! In “Night Expedition” a group of future space explorers examine a newly discovered moon orbiting a ringed gas giant. *Exoplanet Sunset* Somewhere out there among the estimated 40 billion Earth-sized planets and potentially trillions of moons orbiting in habitable zones of stars, a local star is setting on distant shores of an exo-moon orbiting a gas giant in a binary system. *Sunny With Scattered Snow Showers* Some exoplanets will have weather just as we have on Earth. Some of those will have a dynamic biosphere filled with life reminiscent of our home world. With over 4000 exoplanets confirmed, as of July 2019, who knows what wonders await us! Exomoon Annular Eclipse An annular eclipse is where the foreground planet doesn’t fully block the disk of the star, leaving a ring of light visible around it. In the image there is a binary system consisting of a standard G-type yellow dwarf star similar to our sun and a red dwarf. The yellow dwarf has a planetary system which contains a habitable exomoon that orbits a gas giant at just the right distance so that it’s populace is treated to an eclipse with every orbit. Opportunity Found The Mars rover, Opportunity, spent 15 years traversing the surface of Mars, covering 28 miles (45 km) while looking for evidence of water. Eventually humans will walk the surface of the red planet and in time they will look for those intrepid machines that preceded them. “Opportunity Found” depicts a Martian evening and the first time human eyes directly behold the rover since it left Earth. Winter Eclipse The Moon rising fully immersed in the Earth's shadow during a total eclipse. Asteroid Rendezvous End game: Twin gravity tractors shepherd a rogue asteroid that was on a collision course with Earth. The asteroid did not present a global threat per se, but it is large enough to destroy a large city such as New York, London or Moscow. The gravity tractors will exert a steady gravitational pull on the asteroid, shifting its trajectory and given adequate time, the asteroid can be deflected enough to miss the Earth. Either of the tractors by itself could deflect the asteroid, but two were sent in the event that if one were to fail, the mission could still be completed. Planetary defense using gravity tractors will only be successful if we find the asteroid threat early enough. Lunar Christmas 2018 A cold, clear winter night with a comet and meteor accompanying the full moon in lighting up the forest at night. Aurora on Exoplanet #9 Earth is not the only planet in our solar system that is illuminated by auroras, the gas giants and ice giants in the outer solar system also have auroral displays. Even Mars and Venus have auroras, although driven by a different process. So if we have them, then they must also be found throughout the cosmos and 'Aurora on Exoplanet #9' is one imagining of such a planet. Autumn Pond It's autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and here's a tribute to the beauty Mother Nature paints across our landscape. First Launch Before ET started zipping around the universe using their hyper-drive, warp-drive, jump-drive, starburst, hyper-space, wormholes, and/or FTL (faster than light) engines, they probably first climbed out of their local gravity well using chemical rockets just as we do today. (That is assuming that the ACME - Really Big Rubber Band didn't work for them either!) “First Launch” depicts the inhabitants of a moon orbiting a ringed planet setting off on their first journey into space. Parallel Universe The Milky Way galaxy has about 300 billion stars, and with the latest data gathered from Kepler and other sources there is the potential that most of these stars have at least one planet (probably more) orbiting them, and some of these planets may be in the habitable zone. And, if you consider the possibility that these planets may have moons, some of which may be habitable, then there are a whole lot of places out there for life to evolve. (Remember, this is just one galaxy out of hundreds of billions of galaxies in our observable universe.) Now consider multiverses...an infinite number of other universes that may co-exist with ours. "Parallel Universe" illustrates a habitable moon of a gas giant in a binary star system somewhere out there, with some very familiar architecture... Distant Shores With over 3700 confirmed exoplanets and several thousand more potential candidates located in a small part of our galaxy, I can't believe there is not life out there somewhere. "Distant Shores" is a glimpse of one possible exoplanet with a variety of life inhabiting it that parallels the beautiful planet we inhabit. Dinner for Two with a View Mainly from a refusal to believe that we are destined to be sequestered forever in this backwater of the galaxy, and the confidence I have that we will someday find a way to conquer the immense distances between the stars, I offer “Dinner for Two with a View”. A gas giant, in the habitable zone of a star, dances with many moons, one of which is a water-world paradise of sorts and makes the perfect vacation destination. Make your reservations soon! Oh, and don’t drink the water! Hello Earth Sooner or later we will have people on the Moon and they may find that their electronic link to the home world does not satisfy their visceral need to connect with the Earth. A lone astronaut journeys through shades of greys, blacks and whites to take in the view of our home planet with its swirls of white over the blues, browns and greens. Ringworld We have a moon, but imagine if we had rings! Of course, if we did, we would be as lackadaisical about the rings as we are about our moon. But here, in "Ringworld", somewhere in this vast cosmos, a family takes in the view of a ringworld in what was once a trinary star system. Long ago, one of its stars went supernova and left behind a stellar-mass black hole that now feeds off its closest companion and blasts jets of high energy particles and X-rays into the surrounding galaxy. What a view! Atlantic Sunrise Meanwhile, back on Earth. Enjoy the sun rising and flirting with the crescent moon over the Atlantic Ocean to start a new day! Primordial Life started in the seas. Water provided the medium and all the nutrients needed for life to form from simple single-celled lifeforms to multi-cellular plants and eventually animals. But, perhaps it didn't evolve spontaneously. Perhaps it was seeded by comets, asteroids and meteors from other habitable planets. This is known as panspermia and the theory is supported in part by the meteors we find on Earth that are directly traceable to Mars. Who knows what pieces of Earth we may find on Mars. Alternate version: Primordial Sunset Primordial Sunset was chosen for the back cover illustration for the Planetary Society's Planetary Report magazine December Solstice 2018 issue. Ice Fairies Ice fairies come out to mark the winter solstice, the day the sun is at its lowest altitude at noon in the Northern Hemisphere bringing the shortest day of the year. Ironically, the Earth is closest to the sun at this time of year (the closest point or perihelion will occur on January 3, 2018), but the tilt of planet causes the Northern Hemisphere to experience shorter days and less direct sunlight ushering in winter in the north and conversely, summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Homeward Bound Life undoubtedly exists or has exited or will exist on other planets scattered about our galaxy and beyond. These beings will explore their planet and eventually look to the stars to satisfy their wanderlust. In the image "Journey to the Setting Moons" we see a ship leaving the harbor and in "Homeward Bound" we see the ship returning to its home port half a world away. Ring Tree Inspired by the 'dream tree' in the wonderful movie "The BFG" (The Big Friendly Giant, by Roald Dahl) "Ring Tree" combines the magic of an aurora with a shimmering fog and rising ringed planet. Rings are probably more common in the cosmos than one might expect. Some are bold, dramatic rings like the ones encircling Saturn, while others are wispy, barely visible rings like the ones around Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. In fact it was recently discovered that a small (1,218 miles long (1,960 km)), potato-shaped dwarf planet, Haumea, has a ring and two small moons. Bridge to a Galaxy Far - Morning A follow-up to "Bridge to a Galaxy Far": Morning comes with the rising of the parent gas giant and sister moon as the nearby galaxy that dominated the night sky sets. Bridge to a Galaxy Far Globular clusters orbit around the center of a galaxy, (Our Milky Way Galaxy has about 150 of them.) and in this image the inhabitants of a planet in one cluster have the pleasure of seeing their parent galaxy rise in all it's glory every night. As they watch the galaxy rise, there's more than one set of eyes in the galaxy admiring the globular cluster rising in their night sky. Night in the Cluster Back to the globular cluster for a night on the shore under the celestial fireworks. A night sky filled with bright orbs of light that would hamper the deep-sky observations we enjoy on our planet. Imagine the reaction of inhabitants of such a planet suddenly finding themselves on Earth, with its single moon and the Milky Way glowing overhead. Supergiant's End A binary star system with one star similar to our sun and the other a red supergiant. Bloated and blowing off layers of star-stuff for the last million years, the super giant is now moments away from exploding in one of nature’s most spectacular events - a type II supernova. The indigenous population is oblivious to the cataclysm that is about to obliterate their home world. Orion on Watch For thousands of years these massive structures have stood by and silently watched mankind swim in the river of time. We see them today as ghostly remnants of the white marble-clad structures that they once were. It must have been awe-inspiring to see them under construction and even more so to see the finished pyramids. "Orion on Watch" depicts a cool desert night, with the constellation Orion hanging overhead and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn joining the mix as the second great pyramid is being constructed. Galaxy Rising A distant waterless world with a spiral galaxy gracing its night sky. Galaxy created and unwittingly contributed by one cdmodelbuilding88 (AKA C.C. Davison) - thanks! Crescent Planets On the edge of the "Goldilocks Zone", the zone where liquid water can exist and potentially support life as we know it, a planet's moon supports advanced life amongst the abundant snow and ice. Night will soon be filled with with a setting mother planet and sister moons. Contact Hollywood has introduced us to many extraterrestrials, most of them hell-bent on either eating us or conquering and enslaving us. But, what will first contact really be like. What will they look like? What will they smell like? How will they talk and communicate with us? Will this contact be amicable or deadly? So many questions and none of them will be answered until that very first moment we discover that we are not alone in the cosmos. "Contact" depicts our first literal contact with an alien species. Mountain Mists A ringed planet with a habitable moon, where life has evolved to appreciate the simple natural beauty of water flowing over a precipice. It will be very interesting to find out if other evolved species located on distant planets in the cosmos share our fascination with waterfalls. Eagle Falls Some...most pictures start out with a concept in mind and end up very differently from what I had imagined they would look like. Eagle Falls is no exception. It was more an exercise in trying to create a waterfall that looks somewhat realistic. I've already got a concept for the next image which will include water falls. But who knows where it will end up! Enjoy Eagle Falls Sunset with a special appearance by the Moon, Venus and Mercury, and the daytime version of Eagle Falls. Cassini's Garden A commemoration of the amazing probe, mission and team of people that put Cassini in orbit about Saturn and collected data for over 13 years. Maybe someday, hopefully in the not too distant future, when we humans no longer define ourselves by our nationalities, religions, political affiliations or other divisive categories, we will find it in ourselves to build a monument--on Enceladus perhaps--to remember this small probe and the international cooperation it took unveil the mysteries of the ringed planet and its system of 53 confirmed moons. Journey to the Setting Moons The current thinking today is that almost every star may have a planet or planets orbiting it, and with planets you're going to have moons. All this increases the opportunities for extraterrestrial life to evolve. This is amazing in its own right, but even more amazing to me is that these beings will have followed the same steps we have: first, explore their lands, then journey across their seas, and once they conquered the world they evolved on, they would look to the stars... Playthings The Universe presents an almost infinite pallet from which to create life. Who's to say that there are not entities out there with the power to play with planets for amusement? I present for your contemplation, "Playthings". Exile - Summer Solstice He was a collector of things and once ruled his domain with impunity. All things must end and his transgressions led to his exile on a moon orbiting a dry and barren inner planet in the solar system he once freely traveled. Summer has come to his prison and as another solstice marks his solitary imprisonment, he can do no more than gaze at the lush blue planet hanging in the evening sky that he once called home. Winter Tree A cold winter's night with a full moon and a lone tree on a hill: Merry Christmas! (Or if you prefer no Christmas tree lights, click on the bottom image.) Menagerie The Visitor adds to his collection after another visit to Earth. Magic or technology? To us, it is one in the same. Have they been here already? Have they added to their collection one by one and we've not noticed? Are they out there at all? Maybe one day we'll find out, until then, enjoy! Orb Our world, from its sapphire blue oceans to its emerald green forests, provides everything we need to exist. Surely there are planets in this vast Universe--in our galaxy alone--that provide nurturing environments to their indigenous species. The resultant lifeforms may be so alien in nature to us that we may never find a common reference point to share our experiences. Bird's Eye View Just wondering what it might be like to see the world from a bird's perspective. Blue Sunset The sky is alive with colors all during the day and the clouds that decorate the sky just make it more interesting. Typically we think of red with a sunset, but it depends on just when you see it and other factors like the amount of dust and smog in the atmosphere as well as clouds. This picture was inspired by a beautiful picture taken by P-M Hedén and can be seen, along with other beautiful images at Clearskies in the Noctilucent Clouds Gallery. (Noctilucent clouds are clouds at very high altitude made of ice crystals that can be seen late into the twilight hours.) Exoplanet With the data from the Kepler Mission producing over 2000 confirmed planets and 4600 more potential planets located in its small view of the cosmos (1/400th of the sky), the chance of life on a distant planet is going up with each confirmed planet. "Exoplanet" depicts a binary planet system with liquid water, diverse plant life and flying bugs - can't get away from the bugs! Does it really exist? Who knows. But, just consider that the Kepler data is based on observing 100,000 stars out of the 300 to 400 billion stars in our galaxy! Outside the Cluster A habitable moon orbiting a ringed gas giant on the distant outskirts of a dazzling globular cluster - what a sight it would make in the night sky! Inside the Cluster What would it look like to live on a planet orbiting a star inside a globular cluster? This image tries to show what such a planet might have as a night sky. Located some distance from the center of the cluster off to the right of the image, the sky is full of stars that provide enough light to easily read by. Deeper into the cluster the night sky would be even brighter. Troubled Waters An abstract representation of life on planet Earth in the 21st century. Let us all hope the storm abates soon... Water Hole Planets in the habitable zone around a star may have water on their surface in the form of liquid, ice or just water vapor. The planet in the image is mostly dry and arid except for occasional monsoon rains that leave behind temporary pools, which could potentially provide an oasis for life as long as the water is present. This life may be nothing more than simple bacteria or possibly more advanced lifeforms that have evolved to cope with the fleeting presence of life-giving water. Twilight Twilight, that magical time when day melts into night and colors flow across the sky with abandon. The picture was based on an amazing sunset I saw a few months ago which left me in awe of Mother Nature and angry that I didn't have a camera to capture the moment. "Twilight" is set on a planet not unlike our own, but it's really one of two moons orbiting a larger planet with a glorious galaxy floating in the background. Sit back, relax and enjoy! Starry Night We live in a simple solar system consisting of one star and at least 8 planets, depending on your definition of planet. The majority of stars not in the category of red dwarfs, exist in a binary system, two stars orbiting a common center of mass. There are also solar systems consisting of three, four or more stars, which makes for a very interesting environment if you happen to live on a planet in one of these multi-star systems. "Night" would take on a totally different meaning from what we know it to be -- if it were ever defined at all. Enjoy Starry Night and think about living on a planet with endless daylight, and the wonders of the Universe we would never know about all for the lack of a night sky... Sunset at Wellesly Island Meanwhile, back on Earth, in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River to be exact, the Sun is setting. No alien creatures, no binary stars or multiple moons, just a simple, beautiful sunset over the Lake of the Isles that is surrounded by Wellesly Island on the US side and Hill Island on the Canadian side. A beautiful place to visit if you ever have the opportunity. Life - Not as We Know It What's out there? Probably not bipedal, humanoid life with wrinkled foreheads, spotted faces and knobby noses so frequently depicted in modern sci-fi today. What may be out there is probably more bizarre than we can imagine. Take a look at what swims in our seas! (And, this is just what we know about.) Below are two versions of the same scene depicting life on a watery planet, which exists near a sparkling globular cluster and nebula giving birth new stars. The two versions are basically the same scene but with very different atmospheres and consequentially very different lighting effects. I put both up for your viewing pleasure because I couldn't make up my mind which version I liked better!

Somewhere out there among the estimated 40 billion Earth-sized planets and potentially trillions of moons orbiting in habitable zones of stars, a local star is setting on distant shores of an exo-moon orbiting a gas giant in a binary system.

Some exoplanets will have weather just as we have on Earth. Some of those will have a dynamic biosphere filled with life reminiscent of our home world. With over 4000 exoplanets confirmed, as of July 2019, who knows what wonders await us!

An annular eclipse is where the foreground planet doesn’t fully block the disk of the star, leaving a ring of light visible around it. In the image there is a binary system consisting of a standard G-type yellow dwarf star similar to our sun and a red dwarf. The yellow dwarf has a planetary system which contains a habitable exomoon that orbits a gas giant at just the right distance so that it’s populace is treated to an eclipse with every orbit.

The Mars rover, Opportunity, spent 15 years traversing the surface of Mars, covering 28 miles (45 km) while looking for evidence of water. Eventually humans will walk the surface of the red planet and in time they will look for those intrepid machines that preceded them. “Opportunity Found” depicts a Martian evening and the first time human eyes directly behold the rover since it left Earth.

End game: Twin gravity tractors shepherd a rogue asteroid that was on a collision course with Earth. The asteroid did not present a global threat per se, but it is large enough to destroy a large city such as New York, London or Moscow.

The gravity tractors will exert a steady gravitational pull on the asteroid, shifting its trajectory and given adequate time, the asteroid can be deflected enough to miss the Earth. Either of the tractors by itself could deflect the asteroid, but two were sent in the event that if one were to fail, the mission could still be completed. Planetary defense using gravity tractors will only be successful if we find the asteroid threat early enough.

A cold, clear winter night with a comet and meteor accompanying the full moon in lighting up the forest at night.

Earth is not the only planet in our solar system that is illuminated by auroras, the gas giants and ice giants in the outer solar system also have auroral displays. Even Mars and Venus have auroras, although driven by a different process. So if we have them, then they must also be found throughout the cosmos and 'Aurora on Exoplanet #9' is one imagining of such a planet.

It's autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and here's a tribute to the beauty Mother Nature paints across our landscape.

Before ET started zipping around the universe using their hyper-drive, warp-drive, jump-drive, starburst, hyper-space, wormholes, and/or FTL (faster than light) engines, they probably first climbed out of their local gravity well using chemical rockets just as we do today. (That is assuming that the ACME - Really Big Rubber Band didn't work for them either!)

“First Launch” depicts the inhabitants of a moon orbiting a ringed planet setting off on their first journey into space.

The Milky Way galaxy has about 300 billion stars, and with the latest data gathered from Kepler and other sources there is the potential that most of these stars have at least one planet (probably more) orbiting them, and some of these planets may be in the habitable zone. And, if you consider the possibility that these planets may have moons, some of which may be habitable, then there are a whole lot of places out there for life to evolve. (Remember, this is just one galaxy out of hundreds of billions of galaxies in our observable universe.) Now consider multiverses...an infinite number of other universes that may co-exist with ours.

"Parallel Universe" illustrates a habitable moon of a gas giant in a binary star system somewhere out there, with some very familiar architecture...

With over 3700 confirmed exoplanets and several thousand more potential candidates located in a small part of our galaxy, I can't believe there is not life out there somewhere. "Distant Shores" is a glimpse of one possible exoplanet with a variety of life inhabiting it that parallels the beautiful planet we inhabit.

Mainly from a refusal to believe that we are destined to be sequestered forever in this backwater of the galaxy, and the confidence I have that we will someday find a way to conquer the immense distances between the stars, I offer “Dinner for Two with a View”. A gas giant, in the habitable zone of a star, dances with many moons, one of which is a water-world paradise of sorts and makes the perfect vacation destination. Make your reservations soon! Oh, and don’t drink the water!

We have a moon, but imagine if we had rings! Of course, if we did, we would be as lackadaisical about the rings as we are about our moon. But here, in "Ringworld", somewhere in this vast cosmos, a family takes in the view of a ringworld in what was once a trinary star system. Long ago, one of its stars went supernova and left behind a stellar-mass black hole that now feeds off its closest companion and blasts jets of high energy particles and X-rays into the surrounding galaxy. What a view!

Meanwhile, back on Earth. Enjoy the sun rising and flirting with the crescent moon over the Atlantic Ocean to start a new day!

Life started in the seas. Water provided the medium and all the nutrients needed for life to form from simple single-celled lifeforms to multi-cellular plants and eventually animals. But, perhaps it didn't evolve spontaneously. Perhaps it was seeded by comets, asteroids and meteors from other habitable planets. This is known as panspermia and the theory is supported in part by the meteors we find on Earth that are directly traceable to Mars. Who knows what pieces of Earth we may find on Mars.

Ice fairies come out to mark the winter solstice, the day the sun is at its lowest altitude at noon in the Northern Hemisphere bringing the shortest day of the year. Ironically, the Earth is closest to the sun at this time of year (the closest point or perihelion will occur on January 3, 2018), but the tilt of planet causes the Northern Hemisphere to experience shorter days and less direct sunlight ushering in winter in the north and conversely, summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Life undoubtedly exists or has exited or will exist on other planets scattered about our galaxy and beyond. These beings will explore their planet and eventually look to the stars to satisfy their wanderlust. In the image "Journey to the Setting Moons" we see a ship leaving the harbor and in "Homeward Bound" we see the ship returning to its home port half a world away.

Inspired by the 'dream tree' in the wonderful movie "The BFG" (The Big Friendly Giant, by Roald Dahl) "Ring Tree" combines the magic of an aurora with a shimmering fog and rising ringed planet.

Rings are probably more common in the cosmos than one might expect. Some are bold, dramatic rings like the ones encircling Saturn, while others are wispy, barely visible rings like the ones around Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. In fact it was recently discovered that a small (1,218 miles long (1,960 km)), potato-shaped dwarf planet, Haumea, has a ring and two small moons.

A follow-up to "Bridge to a Galaxy Far": Morning comes with the rising of the parent gas giant and sister moon as the nearby galaxy that dominated the night sky sets.

Globular clusters orbit around the center of a galaxy, (Our Milky Way Galaxy has about 150 of them.) and in this image the inhabitants of a planet in one cluster have the pleasure of seeing their parent galaxy rise in all it's glory every night. As they watch the galaxy rise, there's more than one set of eyes in the galaxy admiring the globular cluster rising in their night sky.

Back to the globular cluster for a night on the shore under the celestial fireworks. A night sky filled with bright orbs of light that would hamper the deep-sky observations we enjoy on our planet. Imagine the reaction of inhabitants of such a planet suddenly finding themselves on Earth, with its single moon and the Milky Way glowing overhead.

A binary star system with one star similar to our sun and the other a red supergiant. Bloated and blowing off layers of star-stuff for the last million years, the super giant is now moments away from exploding in one of nature’s most spectacular events - a type II supernova. The indigenous population is oblivious to the cataclysm that is about to obliterate their home world.

Some...most pictures start out with a concept in mind and end up very differently from what I had imagined they would look like. Eagle Falls is no exception. It was more an exercise in trying to create a waterfall that looks somewhat realistic. I've already got a concept for the next image which will include water falls. But who knows where it will end up! Enjoy Eagle Falls Sunset with a special appearance by the Moon, Venus and Mercury, and the daytime version of Eagle Falls.

A commemoration of the amazing probe, mission and team of people that put Cassini in orbit about Saturn and collected data for over 13 years.

Maybe someday, hopefully in the not too distant future, when we humans no longer define ourselves by our nationalities, religions, political affiliations or other divisive categories, we will find it in ourselves to build a monument--on Enceladus perhaps--to remember this small probe and the international cooperation it took unveil the mysteries of the ringed planet and its system of 53 confirmed moons.

The current thinking today is that almost every star may have a planet or planets orbiting it, and with planets you're going to have moons. All this increases the opportunities for extraterrestrial life to evolve. This is amazing in its own right, but even more amazing to me is that these beings will have followed the same steps we have: first, explore their lands, then journey across their seas, and once they conquered the world they evolved on, they would look to the stars...

The Universe presents an almost infinite pallet from which to create life. Who's to say that there are not entities out there with the power to play with planets for amusement? I present for your contemplation, "Playthings".

Exile - Summer Solstice
He was a collector of things and once ruled his domain with impunity. All things must end and his transgressions led to his exile on a moon orbiting a dry and barren inner planet in the solar system he once freely traveled. Summer has come to his prison and as another solstice marks his solitary imprisonment, he can do no more than gaze at the lush blue planet hanging in the evening sky that he once called home.

Winter Tree
A cold winter's night with a full moon and a lone tree on a hill: Merry Christmas! (Or if you prefer no Christmas tree lights, click on the bottom image.)

Menagerie
The Visitor adds to his collection after another visit to Earth. Magic or technology? To us, it is one in the same.

Have they been here already? Have they added to their collection one by one and we've not noticed? Are they out there at all? Maybe one day we'll find out, until then, enjoy!

Orb
Our world, from its sapphire blue oceans to its emerald green forests, provides everything we need to exist. Surely there are planets in this vast Universe--in our galaxy alone--that provide nurturing environments to their indigenous species. The resultant lifeforms may be so alien in nature to us that we may never find a common reference point to share our experiences.

Bird's Eye View
Just wondering what it might be like to see the world from a bird's perspective.

Blue Sunset
The sky is alive with colors all during the day and the clouds that decorate the sky just make it more interesting. Typically we think of red with a sunset, but it depends on just when you see it and other factors like the amount of dust and smog in the atmosphere as well as clouds. This picture was inspired by a beautiful picture taken by P-M Hedén and can be seen, along with other beautiful images at Clearskies in the Noctilucent Clouds Gallery. (Noctilucent clouds are clouds at very high altitude made of ice crystals that can be seen late into the twilight hours.)

Exoplanet
With the data from the Kepler Mission producing over 2000 confirmed planets and 4600 more potential planets located in its small view of the cosmos (1/400th of the sky), the chance of life on a distant planet is going up with each confirmed planet. "Exoplanet" depicts a binary planet system with liquid water, diverse plant life and flying bugs - can't get away from the bugs! Does it really exist? Who knows. But, just consider that the Kepler data is based on observing 100,000 stars out of the 300 to 400 billion stars in our galaxy!

Outside the Cluster

A habitable moon orbiting a ringed gas giant on the distant outskirts of a dazzling globular cluster - what a sight it would make in the night sky!

Inside the Cluster

What would it look like to live on a planet orbiting a star inside a globular cluster? This image tries to show what such a planet might have as a night sky. Located some distance from the center of the cluster off to the right of the image, the sky is full of stars that provide enough light to easily read by. Deeper into the cluster the night sky would be even brighter.

Troubled Waters

An abstract representation of life on planet Earth in the 21st century. Let us all hope the storm abates soon...

Water Hole

Planets in the habitable zone around a star may have water on their surface in the form of liquid, ice or just water vapor. The planet in the image is mostly dry and arid except for occasional monsoon rains that leave behind temporary pools, which could potentially provide an oasis for life as long as the water is present. This life may be nothing more than simple bacteria or possibly more advanced lifeforms that have evolved to cope with the fleeting presence of life-giving water.

Twilight

Twilight, that magical time when day melts into night and colors flow across the sky with abandon. The picture was based on an amazing sunset I saw a few months ago which left me in awe of Mother Nature and angry that I didn't have a camera to capture the moment.

"Twilight" is set on a planet not unlike our own, but it's really one of two moons orbiting a larger planet with a glorious galaxy floating in the background. Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Starry Night

We live in a simple solar system consisting of one star and at least 8 planets, depending on your definition of planet. The majority of stars not in the category of red dwarfs, exist in a binary system, two stars orbiting a common center of mass. There are also solar systems consisting of three, four or more stars, which makes for a very interesting environment if you happen to live on a planet in one of these multi-star systems. "Night" would take on a totally different meaning from what we know it to be -- if it were ever defined at all.

Enjoy Starry Night and think about living on a planet with endless daylight, and the wonders of the Universe we would never know about all for the lack of a night sky...

Sunset at Wellesly Island

Meanwhile, back on Earth, in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River to be exact, the Sun is setting. No alien creatures, no binary stars or multiple moons, just a simple, beautiful sunset over the Lake of the Isles that is surrounded by Wellesly Island on the US side and Hill Island on the Canadian side. A beautiful place to visit if you ever have the opportunity.

Life - Not as We Know It

What's out there? Probably not bipedal, humanoid life with wrinkled foreheads, spotted faces and knobby noses so frequently depicted in modern sci-fi today. What may be out there is probably more bizarre than we can imagine. Take a look at what swims in our seas! (And, this is just what we know about.)

Below are two versions of the same scene depicting life on a watery planet, which exists near a sparkling globular cluster and nebula giving birth new stars. The two versions are basically the same scene but with very different atmospheres and consequentially very different lighting effects. I put both up for your viewing pleasure because I couldn't make up my mind which version I liked better!