BEAUTY: Fabric Art--Ophelie Trichereau

This magical embroidered representation of our solar system is made by Ophelie Trichereau in Edinburgh, Scotland. Materials used: beads, embroidered threads, threads, dmc, crystal, swarovski, rock, wool, sequins, framework. It feels like some kind of talismanic map of space one would see in the Harry Potter universe.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/OphelieTrichereau

Universal Perspective

And now, for some universal perspective...

Gemstone Planets From Deskspace

Deskspace is a set of semi-precious stones representing each of the planets in our solar system. The beautiful spheres are cradled in a wooden base and while their website doesn't list the stones, I believe I can identify them as labradorite, moonstone, sodalite, jasper, tiger eye, yellow and green aventurine, and possibly lapis lazuli.

To purchase, visit their website:
http://deskx.co/

The Chocolate Solar System

Japanese chocolate boutique L'Eclat, located at the RIHGA Royal Hotel in Osaka, make a delightful boxed set of the planets of our solar system made from chocolate!

http://www.rihga.co.jp/osaka/leclat/planet.html

BEAUTY: Painting--Erik Olson

Canadian artist Erik Olson (I posted his "Architectural Faces" previously here) did a series of paintings of our solar system, from Mercury all the way out to poor Pluto which has been banished as a planet. I love how he uses the ancient Greek names (like Aphrodite, Zeus, and Cronus) for the planets as well as the Roman names we are all familiar with. I also love how his colors and brushowrk are so painterly: regular readers have heard me say before that I love when painters use their medium like cake frosting!

And for good measure, I included his image called The Gateway (Hubble Deep Field), looking out our backyard into the rest of the universe... wow...

http://www.erikolson.ca/

There's A Moon In The Sky...

...but what if it wasn't called The Moon? Ron Miller manipulates photos of the planets in our solar system to imagine what things would look like if our moon were replaced.

He says, "What if we had a planet instead of a Moon?

Our moon is a pretty big object. It's big enough to be a respectable planet in its own right, if it were orbiting the sun instead of the Earth. (Actually, it is orbiting the sun in a nearly perfectly circular orbit, that the Earth only slightly perturbs... but that's a topic for another day.) The Moon is a quarter the diameter of the Earth. Only Pluto has a satellite that is larger, in proportion to the size of the planet it orbits.

But what if the Moon were size of Mars, instead?...Check out how some of the other planets of the Solar System would look in our sky, if they took the Moon's place."

First, here is how our own moon looks to us in the sky:

And here are our planets in its place:

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

http://io9.com/5929076/what-if-we-had-a-planet-instead-of-a-moon