Art

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From the beginning of civilization, people have been looking up at the sky and contemplating. With that, people have always been including the stars and planets in there photography and paintings. Since ancient times, the Sun has affected Man’s art. Several designs used in anceint art such as the hooked cross, came man’s attempt to make carvings and pictures of the Sun and other bodies in the Solar System. A circular Sun ray design from ancient times has been used greatly by more recent artists of today, especially in decorative metal workings and sculptures.

Many of the most famous artists have tried to capture the beauty, warmth, and color of the Sun on canvas. Such as the paintings of Vincent van Gogh capture the feeling of warmth brought by the Sun. The famous English landscape painter Joseph M. Turner captured the beauty of the earth and sea bathed in the light of the Sun. Other such heavenly bodies have also been the main object in many famous paintings.

Here are a few art projects that are not only fun but can help teach some aspects of Astronomy:

The Orbit of the Moon
See how long it takes the moon to orbit around the Earth by watching and recording the Moon’s phases. The Moon repeats its phases after 29.5 earth days, but the actual period of rotation is 27.3 days. To make your own Moon chart you can watch the Moon with a pair of binoculars or with the naked eye. This project takes nearly a month but won’t be ruined if there happens to be a stormy or cloudy night...

Mobile of the Solar System
This mobile will sort of give you an idea of the planets sizes compared to one another...

Planet 's Size
From our planet, it is difficult to think of the dimensional sizes and volumes of the other eight planets...Did you know that it would take around 1300 Earths to make up the planet Jupiter! Here is a project that can show the difference in the planets sizes...

Saturn’s Change in Shape
Saturn is always tilted at an angle of 27 degrees, and the way we see it from Earth depends on our perspective. This change happens as Saturn moves around the Sun every 29 1/2 Earth years. Twice every Saturnian year the rings are seen as fully open, and twice the planet looks ringless. This project shows the changing shape of Saturn...

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