Through the gallery!
Last year I attended the Spacefest meeting in Tucson for the first time, where I met a number of astronaut friends and also a world of astronomical artists. The meeting brings together many members of the world’s leading organization for space art, the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA). At the show, I came up with the idea of producing something that has never been done before — an issue of Astronomy magazine solely devoted to the magnificence of the best current space art. You hold the result in your hands.
Many years ago, the magazine’s founder, Steve Walther, devised a slogan for our title that also served as a clarion call for of publishing space art: “Man’s dreams of worlds unseen.” The magic of this art is that it can carry us across vast distances of the universe to show us close-ups of places we will never see in person.
Members of the IAAA have been paramount in creating those visions, and here we present 50 of the greatest recent works of art, laid out for you to enjoy as if you were walking through a museum gallery. Thanks go to Aldo Spadoni, the IAAA’s president, for helping to coordinate this special package.
Founded in 1982, the IAAA contains more than 130 talented members; the 42 artists who contributed works in this issue are listed on page 66, along with their website addresses. You can read all about this group of artistic trendsetters on the IAAA’s website, iaaa.org. Members of the group have also created a wonderful book, The Beauty of Space Art, edited by Jon Ramer and Ron Miller. The book was published in 2021 by Springer Nature and contains a vast number of works of art beyond those included in this issue.
Our presentation is divided into four sections, covering spaceflight, the solar system, the Milky Way, and the distant universe. The authors, Spadoni, Miller, Ramer, and planetary scientist and artist Bill Hartmann, represent the cosmos as well as anyone ever has. Enjoy!
Yours truly,