Shivita’s Animal Planet Series

I always follow the development of this series by Shivita, and finally in April she finished her “Animal Planet” series, and I wish to comment it in my blog.

The series is basically the planets of the solar system (and their moons) as anime-style animals. Symbolism appears a lot in her art, and the reason behind the choice of the animals is pretty deep. Her knowledge about the solar system and astrology are not bad either! :D

So let’s see how she did all the planets.

Mercurio – the Hopping Mouse
A small desert animal, very appropriate since it lives in a hot place and it has a small size. Also depicted is the animal wearing a bell accessories supposedly made of quicksilver, the metal for planet Mercury. Well everybody knows quicksilver evaporates in temperature extreme Mercury, but people do try to make a bell from Mercury, I think Shivita is actually inspired by this YouTube video: watch?v=8mJEsj3N50o

 

Venus – the Swan
She depicts the swan in a sinister look, relating it to the extreme condition in Venus. The swan does look a bit like a phoenix here, a fiery animal … so I think it’s cool how she can represent the femininity of Venus and the raging hot surface of Venus with a swan. I also try to find a metal of Venus here, the copper, or at least a mirror (since copper is made into a mirror in the past, and Venus really likes mirrors). Oh well the swan will becomes too weird if it holds a mirror.

 

Earth – the Hippocampus
Since Earth is a water planet, she makes the horse with a fish tail, the Hippocampus! It holds flowers, and I think there’s seaweed on her foot. Earth often represents fertility, so the plants as a symbol of life really is appropriate.!!!!!!! Anyway, why earth? why not Tierra ?? :)
Moon – the Rabbit
Rabbit has always been associated with the moon, especially in Japan. The Japanese folklore tells of a rabbit that makes rice cakes on the moon. I’m trying to find the element silver on the rabbit. I guess its the earring, and her silver eyes. Cool.

 

Marte – The Ram
Extremely appropriate, Mars the planet of Aries is well represented by a ram. I think he’s supposedly wearing an armor made of iron, which is the metal of Mars. His eyes is red, the color of Mars.
Phobos and Deimos – The Rat and the Mouse
Very cute Panic and Fear. The reason behind the eye’ color is from Disney Movies Hercules Pain and Panic (their color is purple and green). Since the symbolism of Phobos and Deimos in Greek myth is very limited, I say what the heck XD

 

Jupiter – The Lion
Jupiter is the most important god, so she chooses the most “important” animal, the lion. Lion is actually no where being a symbol of Jupiter. If there is a sun, I would choose an eagle for Jupiter, replaces Ganymede with a falcon probably, and make a golden lion for the sun. But for some reason, this brownish lion is very fit for Jupiter. Jupiter’ metal is the tin, and this lion holds something on his tail that looks like a thunderbolt, but grey in color. Probably that’s the tin :P
Io – The Calf
Zeus changed Io into a calf to protect her from Hera’s wrath. Io is the most active body in the Solar System, but Io the calf seems a bit timid. She should have made the calf looks tormented or angry, because Io was extremely compressed by the gravity of Jupiter and the neighbor moons. I really like the color tho.
Europa – The Serval
I really thought Europa is a weasel or ermine, which is a snowy creature, and the fact that Europa is an icy world with some part of the surface is as bright as a fallen snow, so yea probably it’s a weasel. But no, this Europa is the serval, a spotted wild cat in Africa. I never thought that there are actually white servals in the wild, a rare kind of serval, not albino, just different coloration, which is very much Europa’s coloration.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/WhiteServalPharaoh.jpg 
Ganymede – The Eagle
Ganymede is the eagle, because Ganymede is abducted by Zeus in an eagle form. I feel like she should choose something else and not an eagle, although the regal eagles does suits Ganymede’s large size.
Callisto – The She Bear
Callisto, naturally a she bear, because she was transformed into a she bear by Zeus.

 

Saturno – The Stag
Capricorn, the zodiac sign of Saturn, represents structure and order. But since a goat-like animal is already represented here(Martian ram), she chooses a stag to represent Saturn. I never thought of a stag, but it perfectly matches the original symbolism of Saturn to represent order. I’m glad she didn’t choose elephant to represent Saturn. BUT, I think the stag needs a bit more accessory around, like the planets before him. I think a chain lead is very nice, since Saturn is the planet of restriction.
Enceladus – The Arctic Fox 
Enceladus is probably the whitest object in the solar system, having the same albedo as a newly fallen snow. It produces “snows” from its ice volcano and affects the color of the moons around it (that’s why most of Saturnian moon is white-colored). Arctic fox is a great animal for Enceladus. 
Tethys – The Sea Otter
Tethys is the goddess of the sea, so she chooses sea otter for this. Otter does associated with feminine cult and water in Native American myth, so I guess it’s ok.
Dione – The Heron
She chooses heron because she see Dione as the mother of Aphrodite, so it has to be something water-bird-ish (because Aphrodite is a swan), so she chooses Heron. Phoenix is sometimes depicted as a heron, and since Shivita’s swan of Venus looks very much like the phoenix, I think it’s great.
Rhea – The Lioness
Lion is one of the attribute for Rhea. So it will be lion for Rhea, nice.
Titan – The Dinosaur
I like how she chooses a primordial animal for Titan since Titan condition is said to be similar with the primordial condition of the Earth, so it’s very fitting.
Iapetus – The Coati
Wow, I never thought coatis have same colorations with Iapetus. 

 

Urano – The Amphithere
Since Uranus is the god of the sky, she wanted all the animals in the system to have feathery wings. Since Uranus is a “freak” planet of Aquarius, I see all the member of this system to be a bit weird and unique, so I think it’s very fitting!
Miranda – Winged Wounded She-Wolf
Miranda from the Tempest by Shakespeare is strong but naive, and an emotional girl. I think a wounded she-wolf is a great idea lol.
Ariel – The Dove; and Umbriel – The Raven
I think I see Ariel and Umbriel similarly as Shivita see these moons: Ariel is a light spirit, while Umbriel is an underground spirit. Umbriel is the darkest major moon of Uranus while Ariel is the brightest Uranus’ satellite (even though still relatively dark compared to Saturn’s moon). She makes it a dove and a crow, nice!
Titania – Female Dinosaur
She relates the animal of Titania with the animal of Titan, so Titania is a feathered dinosaur (well in fact, it is probably true that most Dinosaurs are feathered, like Velociraptor. But I don’t know what kind of Dinosaur is this.
Oberon – Pegasus
Oberon sounds great, so she chooses Pegasus to represent Oberon. I found less association with the true Oberon on this one, but Oberon does reminds me of Bellerophon, the guy who rides on Pegasus’ back. So it’s cool.

 

Neptuno – The Humpback Whale
The ocean logically. But why not the blue whale? But I always see it as a blue whale, so no problem.
Triton – The Swordfish 
For some reason it reminds me a bit of my character for Triton, which is a bit “edgy” despite of his relation with watery Neptune. So I think swordfish is a good idea too. 
Proteus – The Seal
Proteus stays on the Island of Pharos, where he herds the seals of Poseidon. Very nice!
Larissa – The Dolphin
I’m becoming a complainer with this one. Why Larissa? Why not Nereid? I mean Nereid is much larger than Larissa (340 km, compared to 190 km), and it was even discovered much more earlier than Larissa is, like 40 years earlier. Nereid also has a character: it has one of the most eccentric orbit of any object in the solar system, much like the orbit of a comet. I think I know the reason, it probably because currently there is no decent image of Nereid.  

 

Pluto – The Bat
She knows pretty well about Pluto not being a planet anymore, but I think she’s pretty reasonable to put Pluto in the series. She knows that Pluto is included in astrology (so why don’t you draw the sun as well!!!!!!). Anyway, Pluto is a bat because she wanted something dark but not necessarily bad. So a bat will be Pluto.
I think at this point Shivita have forgotten that the planets are supposed to wear “accessories”. it looks very different when you go back to Mercury. But it’s cool, because her art is great.
Charon – The Firefly
Charon is the firefly and Pluto’s companion in the dark space, so they are both friends. Lol you know Pluto have more friends now, Hydra and Nyx. But I think none of them beats the connection between Pluto and Charon. ;)

 

Overall I’m really excited with her art. That’s why I put it in my blog. I think she should have a look at Denis Moskowitz’s site for the glyph of the other moons (since she used all the glyph of our Luna for all of the moons), that way each moon will have their own symbol.

I am still anticipating for the very last art she’s going to make for this series. I guess it’s going to be a everything combined in a picture, but for now I’m still waiting XD

 

Link:

Shivita’s deviant art http://shivita.deviantart.com/

Denis Moskowitz Site: http://www.suberic.net/~dmm/graphics/astro/moons.html

Copyright all belongs to Shivita (Silvia Elizabeth)

Terraforming Solar System Objects

 

A nice terraforming art by Wyrmshadow. The idea is that everything up to 200 miles are being terraformed. The smallest object here is Mimas, one of the moon of Saturn. Mimas is so small that everything on the moon weight about 0,006 times that on Earth (correct me if I’m wrong), imagine what kind of ocean would it be in Mimas with that kind of gravity… :)

The only thing that bothers me is the way the city light looks shiny in the day hemisphere. It looks like a dirt or an error on the texture, but overall it is awesome.

Link

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/3d-wips/45062-planetary-systems-bryce.html

Gliese 581 System

Planet E of the Gliese 581 system (foreground), the smallest planet to be discovered. The blue planet is the giant gas planet Planet D, probably have ocean in it. Small dot in the center is Planet C. White dot close to the star is Planet B (http://www.eso.org)

Today April 21, 2009, astronomers announce the discovery of Gliese 581 e, the smallest exoplanet ever found. I will use this occasion to find out more about the system.

The sun of the system is of course the star Gliese 581. The star is a red dwarf star located 20.3 light years away from Earth (a relatively close distance). It is pretty much the sun after the red giant phase, a dying and shrinking star. This sun is dim and small, only 0.013 times the brightness of our sun, and only 0.29 times the radius of our sun. This kind of star probably produces little stellar wind that planets can orbit closer and has satellites around it without being disturbed by the stellar wind.

The orbits of planets of the Gliese 581 system. All the orbits depicted here is closer than Mercury’s distance to the sun (http://www.eso.org)

Compared to our solar system, the planets of the Gliese 581 System orbit far closer to the star than that of our own system. All of the planets in this system orbits closer to its sun than Mercury’s distance to the sun. Since the star Gliese 581 is small, planets are logically orbits closer than the planets in our solar system.

Comparison between the habitable zone of our Solar System and the Gliese 581 System (Based on a diagram by Franck Selsis, Univ. of Bordeaux.)

The planets of the Gliese 581 system is relatively bulky and large compared to the planets of our solar system. They also strangely orbits closer to one another. I have the feeling that this may have been due to uncertainties and I think that it is possible for the planet to be actually 50% smaller than its initial assumption. These planet may be tidally locked the star, and is supposed to be perturbing each other, although it seems that this is not the case.

So here are the current members of Gliese 581:

Gliese 581	Third the size of our sun, and 50 times colder. This sun radiates primarily near infrared, so everything around would appears uncomfortably red.
“Planet E”	Distance 0.03AU, complete its orbit after 3 days, 1.9 earth-masses. The innermost planet of the system, and also the smallest exoplanet to be found. It is has a similar distance with the distance of Io to Jupiter. This planet is probably lack of atmosphere due to its high temperature, small size, and strong radiation from the star.
”Planet B”	Distance 0.041AU, complete its orbit after 5.3 days, 16 times earth-masses. Neptune sized planet. Largest planet in the system, probably a hot gas giant. It has a similar distance with the distance of Europa to Jupiter (imagine Jupiter 2 times as big orbited by the planet Neptune). This planet is big enough to cause the star Gliese 5811 to wobble.
“Planet C”	Distance 0.073AU, complete its orbit after 13 days, 5 times earth-masses. First low mass exoplanet found to be near its star’ habitable zone. Since the region of Planet C’s orbit is comparable to the area where Venus orbits our sun, it is now thought that this planet may experience a runaway greenhouse effect like Venus does, and so is probably not habitable.
“Planet D”	Distance 0.22 AU, complete its orbit after 67 days, 7 times earth-masses. The planet furthest out in the Gliese 581 system so far. It is probably too massive to be made only of rocky material, but astronomers speculate that it is an icy planet that has migrated closer to the star. Planet D was previously thought to be too cold for life to exist, but further studies released in April 2009 confirmed that this planet lies within the habitable zone and large deep ocean may exist.

I think it would be nice if a name is assigned for each of the planet :)

Leo and Water

Water jars and stand from the Byzantine Period (8th-13th century BC)
© R.M.N./B. Hatala

These porous jars are used in the 12th century AD by the Coptics to keep water cool by using evaporation. Excess water seeped through the ceramic, then flowed from the cavities into a pipe that emerged through the lion's mouth carved at the front of the stand. The water that dripped from the lion’s mouth was then collected in a container.

Why do lion spurts water from its mouth? The lion has always been associated with water in the Mediterranean world; even today, fountain water still spurts from lions' mouth. In Egypt, this could be explained by the fact that the Nile flood occurs when the sun is in Leo. Pliny wrote that the Egyptians also worshipped the stars of Leo because the rise of the Nile happens when the sun moves to Leo (actually it is also explained that the inundation of the Nile is caused by the setting of Aquarius into the Nile, pouring his water into the Nile and thus causing it to flood).

Another explanation is that the Sun was in Leo during Midsummer, and during this time the lions of the Egyptian desert went to banks of the Nile where they could find relief from the heat in the flooded water of the Nile.

Nile Mosaic of Palestrina depicting the scene around the Nile, including the lion and some monsters (ca. 100 BC). Wikipedia 

Another explanation is the symbolism of lion in the Roman world, in which the lion symbolizes the cleansing fire; the water that poured through the lion’s mouth was therefore pure and fit for either drinking or religious purposes.

Link:

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp;jsessionid=JvX87QnLs1H3TGRhdv6GJ2kqJ2GwKTTXMLYWSPLGqnzXTgRLGmSN!-537807899?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225210&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225210&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500810&baseIndex=1&bmLocale=en

Atmostheory - Retro Solar System Poster

Atmostheory, The Solar System

ATMOSTHEORY is the one-man design studio of Christopher David Ryan, based in Portland, Maine. Cute and simple Pop art but also retro-looking, with almost a monochrome quality. He’s not particularly focused in astronomy, but I like the creativity :D.

Source:

http://atmostheory.com/projects/the_solar_system/

So it will be Vanth

S/1 (90482) (2005) Vanth

Discovered 13 Nov 2005 by M.E. Brown and T.-A Suer.

Vanth is a daimon in Etruscan mythology who guides the dead to the underworld. She often appears on tomb paintings and sarcophagi where she is depicted with wings and a torch, and she is frequently shown in the presence of Charun, a guard of the underworld. Name suggested by Sonya Taaffe.

 

 

 

 

I have to say I really like it … it suits extremely well, and it is the number one proposed name for the new moon and also suggested by me in 1 90482 (2005) Needs a Name. But well of course, some of us are still waiting for a large celestial body to be named after Persephone (whether it is Proserpina, Phersipnai, Prosperina). Well until then we are still waiting for Pluto’s wife to make her appearance.

There are thousands of suggestion for the Orcus’s Moon, and out of those suggestions, Vanth is chosen. And so I say let us commemorates some of the good and silly names suggested for the new moon of Orcus.

The Good Names

 

(left) Phlegyas riding his boat with Dante and Virgil. (right) Cerberus in an Etruscan vase. For other gods picture see my previous blog 1 90482 (2005) Needs a Name

• Vanth (winner!)
• Phlegyas (equivalent of Charon, ferrying souls across the Styx)
• Proserpina (wife of Orcus (I believe this is the correct spelling of what Mike Brown refers to))
• Cerberus (“Orcus’ warder” (Virgil))
• Charun (demonic counterpart of Charon)

The Silly Names

(left to right) Shamu the Orca, comedian Stephen Colbert, Princess Fiona, Mork & Mindy

• Shamu (The Orca) 
• Colbert (Stephen Colbert)
• Mindy (counterpart to Robin Williams’ Mork, who was from Ork)
• Fiona (Princess of Fiona, bride of Shrek, the ogre)
• Norahc (Charon read backward)
• Otulp (Pluto read backward)
• Orcus Porcus (???)
• J.R.R. Tolkien related names
• Dungeons and Dragons related names
• Disney-related names

So in the end I’m glad the name was not Shamu, I mean, putting an orca into a dark cold barren KBO region?

Dava Sobel’s The Planet and Lynette Rene Cook Artwork

The Planets, by Dava Sobel © 1997-2009 Barnesandnoble.com llc

Dava Sobel, the best-selling author of “Longitude” and “Galileo's Daughter”, write her newest book in 2005, The Planet. Well I’m not a good reader myself, but her knowledge on the subject and the way Lynette Rene Cook, the illustrator for the book, applies her art in the book is very rich in symbolism, which makes the book interesting. In this book, Dava Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the les of popular culture, astrology, myth, science fiction, art, music, poetry, biography, and history. Her graceful way of telling the story makes the book one of important collectables for those who are interested in astronomy.

Well, here are all the 12 arts from the book.

	Model worlds: (overview) How Dava Sobel became a person of astronomy, of her childhood. There’s a diorama of the Solar System in a shoe box supposedly made by Dava Sobel during her childhood, of course a simpler solar system of the 1950s with fewer celestial body. On the wall are the numerous celestial bodies of the Solar System as people know today.
	Genesis: (the sun) Sort of Bosch’ surrealistic Garden of Eden of the planets. There’s a sundial with the sun photosphere, a solar eclipse. A hedge with the Earth’s continent of Pangaea. The sundial has the Sun’s photosphere on the surface. Solar eclipse in the sky, Animals on the roots of the central tree, weird shaped plants around, as if it was not fully developed in the Eden.
	Mythology: (Mercury) The Mercury chapter is about mythology because there is more mention of Hermes (Mercury) in myth than any other gods in the Greek pantheon. The feather probably symbolizes the fleet-footed Hermes, or the fact that his sandals have wings attached to it. On the background is the world of the dead and the world of the living (notice the tree on the foreground which is dead on the left side and alive on the right side)
	Beauty: (Venus) Temple of Venus? the fact that the Mayan has their own calendrical system based on Venus. Different phases of Venus, and the brightness of Venus compared to the Moon. Another different world on the bottom, Venus surface based on Magellan’s  radar image, the Magellan spacecraft, and the goddess Venus with her flower the rose. Also I notice a small photograph of Venera USSR’s Probe, which is the only photos of Venus’ surface.
	Geography: (Earth) On the wallpaper, the Copernican system of the universe (solar system), the perception of Earth as a flat body, Columbus’ ships, the Earth’s interior, everything related to the concept of Earth
	Lunacy: (the moon) Very much an astrology-influenced pictures, I should say that I don’t really like when this kind of subject started to appear, because sounds very much like a the mambo jumbo world of the Wiccan community or the astrologers. Nevertheless in the image is the lunar Apollo Modules on the gazebo, white flowers (sort of related with the night garden), the Luna moth, and of course water.
	Sci-Fi: (Mars) Mars surface blasting into space and drifting toward Earth, falling as a meteoroid, one of the famous Martian meteoroids is the one found in the poles, depicting bacteria-like features on the surface. UFOs, the fact that Mars is the most popular planet for us, and small balls of the watery Mars and the Mars as it was depicted by Percival Lowell, showing “canals”.
	Astrology: (Jupiter) I must say that Jupiter looks very beautiful with the horoscope. The horoscope is the real natal chart for Galileo spacecraft (okay, I don’t like this). There is also the Galileo spacecraft, the four Galilean moons, and a comet. I personally think that Lynette Cook should shows the Shoemaker-Levy instead of other comet. The fact is astrology is depicted here is also because Jupiter system is one of the discovery which led to the break up between astronomy and astrology.
	Music of the spheres: (Saturn) My favorite image for the book. It depicts Saturn as it is seen by Cassini, the Huygens space probe falling into Titan’s cloud-covered surface. On the wallpaper is the actual score from Holst’ Saturn movement (reputedly to be Holst’ favorite piece from The Planets Suite. There is also some heavenly tone created during the Renaissance and also a pattern of Cassini Spacecraft and the Huygens Probe on the tiles.
	Night air: (Uranus and Neptune) The image depicts the 7-foot telescope that Herschel used in his back yard garden. There are three Uranus in the illustration. A shattered photo frame of a comet, because Uranus was thought as a planet before; and also the Voyager image of the bleak, rather boring Uranus in the other frame.
	UFO: (Pluto) Ellis Island in the background, an association of Pluto with an alien, a foreigner, probably also a question of identity (I like this). Water flowing in from the window, symbolizes the overflowing knowledge of some other things yet to be found later (Sedna, Orcus, Varuna, Eris, etc.). The window is the window of the Lowell observatory, the place where Pluto was discovered. Something new for me: Pluto the cat, Tombaugh’s cat later named after the planet.
	Planeteers: (coda) Supposedly depicts the planets in a familiar way, as a flowers.

Some Links:

http://extrasolar.spaceart.org/theplanets.html

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Planets/Dava-Sobel/e/9780641910746