Don Davis

@ddavisspaceart

Space Artist, sky observer and photographer. Processor of space images. Interested in Astronomy, Planetary Geology, history and in what the future may bring.

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Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 21d

Determining the colors the camera is seeing occurs first through analysis of the numerical values of the separate filtered scans in relation to each other, with all known factors accounted for. And of course there is the grayscale and color chart, for me those are the most useful asset.

The characteristics of the camera as well as those of the color chips used in the reference target influence the color images. Left: The Science test lander with decent lighting, photographed with slide film. The flag, patches and color chart are reasonably lit. the lander is a light gray but using a paint differing in color neutrality than that of the gray steps in the test chart.

Middle: The lander top photographed with the mockup camera, the brightened inset showing how the blue in the test chart looks purple even in ground based tests.

Right: Early morning light on the lander and scenery, with a distant Sun facing ridge brighter. The lander and patch colors are reasonably shown, with the test chart partly in shadow. The known color of the lander was used as a gray reference.

Left: The RGB data of the Viking 1 photo 12g081 combined with no attempt at color balancing. Note the blue tint of the gray portions of the sunlit test chart.
Right: color balancing relying principally on using the gray scale on the chart as a 'gray' reference, then adjusting the resulting overblown saturation to a plausible level. Gray scales are at least as important as color chips in establishing the colors of a scene.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 21d

Yes it indeed, from 'smoggy' to 'dense murky smoggy'. There are comparative image sequences showing how variable the dust pall, and its light dimming effects, can be. This photo shows how suspended dust can manifest the near horizon tan haze and the bright blueish forward scattering near the Sun.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 21d

Here is my take on that color image, aiming toward what I think a person photographing the scene would try to reproduce as a visual impression. The human eye can adapt to lighting color balance differences while a camera will exaggerate them. This applies to the scene and all but the uppermost sky.

This is my adjusted version of the first color photo returned from the surface of Mars. The overall surface is a dark orange/tan brown, with the dust free basaltic rock surfaces a dark neutral gray. Mars is rather dark, its albedo an average of 0.16. The darker regions approach the color and brightness of the Lunar maria, with the widespread dusty deserts lighter than the average. Virtually all photos of the Martian surface expose the scene for this dark surface, but familiar objects placed in such a scene would be mostly overexposed. The human eye can largely adjust for varied illumination colors, but a camera set to daylight lighting color exaggerates the recorded color 'temperature' of the lighting. This attempts to mimic a visual impression.

Of course color is a slippery topic, with variables in camera acquisition, transmission through someones preparations and individual perception.
Nevertheless good information, based on quantified camera data, was published in:

'JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH SEPTEMBER 30, 1977 VOL. 82, NO. 28 P 4401
Spectrophotometric and Color Estimates of the Viking Lander Sites'

which contain references to Munsell color chips, a standardized physical color reference. Andrew T. Young, Viking team member, published an article in Sky & Telescope on color in the Solar System in the May 1985 issue. We corresponded and he sent me color chips based on his work which I copied into painted strips then into a digital version which I'll share sometime.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 21d

After the 1st context panoramas, the next anticipated image was the first color photo. This arrived and was printed initially too blue, then the next adjusted image came out too reddish. Later work quantified the surface and sky colors in results consistent with the observations of later missions.

The first color photograph from the surface of Mars arrived about 24 hours after the landing as grayscale 'scans' of the landscape with the red, green and blue filters. The 3 component images came in with the red brightest and the blue the dimmest, which when initially combined appeared so red that they were skeptical of the colors. The initial hurried release of that image occurred 8 hours after the data was received. The intent was to make the sky a neutral gray, but during the photograph's mass printing from a master negative the color balance of that first batch somehow drifted toward the blue, giving an initial 'Earth like' impression to the scene and sky.

This initial release (upper left) appeared on TV news and the covers and color spreads of many magazines.

Later (lower left) A slightly 'over corrected' version emphasizing the reddish ambience was released.

Later work with the digital files shows an approximation of the scene as if lit by noon sunlight with minimal ambient contribution (upper right) and an approximation of the scene with the ambient lighting from the bright butterscotch colored sky factored in (lower right). This is the closest to what eventual human explorers could see and photograph there with their own cameras.

The initial prints were distributed, I was fortunate to get one which I still have, and a large color print was shown on an easel, which people were gathered at transfixed, staring at this first 'window' into Mars. High end color CRT monitors with that image were scattered across the press area. They were adjusted better than the prints, using separate RGB adjustments in the back. I got close to one monitor and someone warned me not to touch it, that someone had just gotten yelled at by Jim Martin for playing with the colors! I later learned more about this story, which contributed to a conspiracy narrative which the early internet conveyed that NASA was trying to hide the true Earthlike appearance of Mars.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 22d

Numerous test images, including some taken outdoors in daylight, were made and 3 were published in the beautiful NASA SP 4212 'On Mars exploration of the red planet 1958-1978' on pages 386 and 388. here are scans. Of course it would be nice to find the image data. More on Mars color in a new thread.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 22d

Here is one more pre mission Viking related painting, the 9 X 36 foot oil painting on canvas I executed over a couple weeks or so at JPL. This was, as before, a summary of my understanding and assumptions about the landing site. I deliberately painted the scene with an eye level horizon. #Sciart

When the painting was (nearly) done I was photographed with Viking mission project head Jim Martin. I gave him and some mission bigwigs a slide show of my art in a darkened office, when I showed the painting of Viking on the surface that I had done for Jack McCauley he laughingly expressed concern about all the rocks I had portrayed.

Last I heard years ago the work was rolled up and stored somewhere, but I don't know if it has survived.

The left portion of the mural as it should be seen, well lit and color balanced. Some of the original 'rolled' texture of the canvas can be seen on the lower left, alas it was not properly glued to a rigid surface but simply stapled on, although competently so.

The usually not seen lower right of the mural. Photographed as a test of the functioning panoramic camera on the Science Test Lander, which also had a functioning sampler arm to rehearse its movements in a sand box with rocks carved in styrofoam placed before it matching those in the real scene. Holger Isenberg rescued this and other Viking test images from obscurity and shared them with me.

A unique photo of my backdrop painting by the replica camera on the Science Test Lander. This is from a color print given me later on, I don't know if the digital data from this camera test has survived.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 22d

Later I found out that stamps based on those paintings were made. It's an interesting sort of honor, and odd to occasionally see something like that. Echoes of those oil paintings done in a third floor room of a Classical revival mansion in Atherton I lived in for 9 fateful years as a tenant.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 22d

The tracing paper 'master' that I used to transfer my final perspective drawing of the Viking Lander to the painting surface. An artifact from the days of painting in oils, with composition, defining details and executing the stages of the final work all done by hand.

After several preliminary sketches trying out angles, each of course hand drawn, this view was the one zeroed in on and a perspective view was meticulously prepared, with a 'basic geometry' perspective drawing first being made on paper then the tracing paper was placed over it and the simple plotted out elements were elaborated upon with the perspective defined, using the photo references and drawings I had available. A rapidograph pen, which i was introduced to at the geological Survey, was used for the final drawing as their lines are unambiguous. That ink drawing then was turned over and carefully redrawn on the other side with a lead pencil directly over the inked lines on the other side. Then that 'master' was taped in place on the art and a red ball point pen used to press the pencil side of the lines against the gessoed canvas panel. The red ink kept me aware of what areas I had traced in. By carefully making the lines narrow in all three steps I ended up with a nice high fidelity 'carbon copy' which I spray varnished then began painting on in oils. I made a tracing paper mask for the lander which was taped over it while the sky was being painted, involving stippling to blend gradations of oil paint suitably thinned with the 'Bonestell Medium' (which he told me of) of Linseed oil, 1/3 turpentine and a dash of Cobalt Drier. This is varied in amount with the paint depending on how opaque the area in question should be.

#Sciart

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 22d

Here are the other two NASA HQ paintings I did of the Viking Mission. The Orbiter releasing the insulation covered Lander container 'aeroshell' with Mars in the background has best stood the test of time. #Sciart

The Viking Orbiter releases the encapsulated Lander near the high point of the spacecraft orbit. Mars was oriented as it would have appeared at the time of Lander release based on related documents. The Martian features are based on maps compiled from mariner 9 images. Albedo details were then still poorly mapped, with Mariners 6 and 7 far encounter photos still profitably used for reference. As usual, the star background was shown as it should have appeared at that time at least as of the time the painting was made, over a year before the landing. Whenever possible I like to use photos of the actual flight hardware as reference, as I was able to do in this case.

#Sciart

The lander, still encased in the now stripped bare Aeroshell, fires a mortar that pulls out the parachute. We are 6 km (3.7 miles) high overlooking the more distinctive features South of the landing site, portrayed in perspective from Mariner 9 derived references. Great channels were cut into the ancient cratered terrain, widening and merging downstream into a relatively smooth flood plain where the lander was initially targeted. This was found to be too rough looking when examined with the Viking orbiter camera, so the July 4 landing date was pushed back while places further 'downstream' were examined. An acceptably smooth looking region was chosen, whose scattered craters and occasional 'wrinkle ridges' gave a more at least superficially Lunar Maria like impression. After some Parachute braking the lander was released, using its descent rockets for the last 1.5 km, or nearly a mile.

#Sciart

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 22d

Mars as imagined just before the landing. This painting, one of a trio done for NASA HQ, ended up being used for the JPL landing press badge. What a thing that was to see when I arrived and signed in!

This painting was, as is much of Astronomical/Space art, a summary of what was known of the subject as well as what about it I found visually appealing. Low gravel bar ridges and dunes dominate the scene, based on the original landing site chosen in Chryse Planita. A suggestion of sedimentary layering is shown in the lower right foreground knoll. The sky was portrayed as blue, making the assumption that it would be like a Stratospheric altitude Earthly sky. Earth is the daylight star just to the left of the lander. The aeroshell on it's parachute from which the lander was dropped drifts downwind in the distance to the left.
The reference materials I had available then were a step or two short of how the lander actually appeared, with the biggest difference being the lack of the rubbery fabric covers over the propellent tanks.

#Sciart

The press badge issued to media at the JPL press area. The last appearance of the Mars of old based on imagination and educated guesswork. This badge is now among my treasured trophies.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 23d

And of course in addition to the Viking 1 landing there is also the highlight of all space related anniversaries today, that of the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon. The memory of this event is a highlight of of many people in my age group. The Moon became part of human affairs then, and will again.

This is a panorama made of still frames from the video from the surface during their EVA. Earlier camera angles were combined with a good frame showing the Astronauts from when after the camera pointing was finalized.

This panorama is from the first color film photos made out the windows after landing but before their EVA. The bright area at the top of the Lunar Module shadow is the strongly back scattered character of the ground, driven largely by the glass globule content of the surface layer where the shadows of the heads of the Astronauts would be. It's like the signs with glass bead carrying paint that reflect ones headlights back to you.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 23d

I will show my Viking related art in a slow trickle over the next few days, as there is a fair amount of it and a new one is coming. This is a pre mission oil painting done for then USGS Astrogeology branch chief Jack McCauley, based on his anticipations of how the landing site could appear.

This mid 70s oil painting attempts to summarize a leading Astrogeologist's idea of what the surface of Mars in the general intended landing zone on a wide flood plain might look like. Jack McCauley familiarized me with his work in the coastal deserts of Peru and photos of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, places where likely Mars like surface features could most be seen on Earth. Streamlined 'gravel bars' preserve an ancient wash, with blowing dust filling some of the deeper winding channels. Small impact craters continued to form since the climate dried up. The dark sky suggests the anticipated visual appearance at the known atmospheric density, of course not accounting tor the eternal dust pall that actually ended up brightening the daytime sky. The lander was based on photos of models available at the time.

#Sciart

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 23d

I'll never forget that long night 50 years ago now. After a tense wait suddenly a voice on the speaker announced 'Touchdown-we have touchdown!' and the press area erupted in cheers and applause. All night people took in the moment, with celebrities being interviewed in front of the lander mockup.

The long vigil in the Press auditorium, with journalists from all over the world gathered there. I managed to get press credentials through Sky and Telescope, which I had just begin a long fruitful relationship with as the first of my covers for them portrayed this mission. As the anticipated landing time approached things grew quietly tense, with the slightest ambience of typing, scooting chairs and scribbling on paper. Descent related data was being announced, altitudes, etc then at 5:12 AM suddenly 'Touchdown, we have touchdown!' was announced by the same voice, bringing extended clapping and cheering.

Later in the night the gathered luminaries in space, and a generous sprinkling of celebrities, Chatted, expressed their happiness and helped make the occasion memorable. In those days the JPL space mission arrivals were attaining the status of 'Gatherings of the Tribes' as space writers, journalists in film and TV media and even space artists worked to be there through at times creatively concocted affiliations with space related outlets and people. This 'Tribal Gathering' status perhaps peaked during the Voyager missions under JPL Public Affairs head Frank Bristow.

Polaroid SX-70 photo.

Two very different writers about Mars, Carl Sagan and Ray Bradbury. Journalist Roy Neal is at the right. Ektachrome slide.

Nichelle Nichols and Gene Roddenberry in front of the Science Test Lander, with my backdrop mural. Ektachrome slide film.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 23d

The first glimpse of the Martian surface was long anticipated. Bonestell's art dominated ideas of what Mars was like, basically the desert Southwest with most air absent. The idea of a dark blue sky on Mars persisted in space art until that morning. Here are those first looks at the Martian surface.

Top: the first view of the Martian surface, which appeared in slow steps left to right as the data came in. They wanted first thing to know if the lander was on solid ground and not too buried, sinking etc. The imaging sequence started 25 seconds after landing and continued for 5 minutes as the camera scanned a vertical line at a time moving to the right to scan the next. Having the orbiter relay the data took another 20 minutes. At left a brightening in the image can be seen that intensifies then fades, followed by a darkening that soon goes away. That represents a kind of record of the dust kicked up by the landing that brightened the field of view, then the shadow of the dust cloud briefly darkened the scene. The prominent angular rock near upper center is about 10 cm (4 inches) across. This first peek reassured everyone that the lander was on solid ground. A little dirt kicked up by the lander rockets can be seen pooled in the footpad.

Bottom: 6 minutes after landing the second photo was obtained, a lower resolution 300 degree wide panorama of the surroundings taking in the scene in 9 minutes. At once the character of the scenery showed its distinctive nature, rocky and lightly even ground with small drifts and patches of lighter fine dust. The presence of dust in the atmosphere brought a brightness to it that was not anticipated, as an artist that was the major revelation I felt when looking over the scene. The atmospheric density was known to be like Earth's at 40 kilometers or 130,000 feet, so any noticeable blue sky brightness should only be evident near the horizon. In reality, the eternal presence of wind blown dust makes the sky a luminous version of the color of the ubiquitous surface dust, especially in the quarter of the sky near the Sun.

Suddenly rendered dated were all those paintings by Bonestell, Pesek and others which were done between the times of the Mariner missions and the Viking landings, showing interpretations of known features but …

I had my Polaroid SX-70 camera with me when just after the landing I was suddenly escorted from the press area into into the imaging team room, hastily badged and plopped in front of some of the many monitors in the area which steadily unveiled the first two looks at the Martian surface. No journalists were there dur to JPL PR department policy, but I got a few photos and a sound recording of the excited chatter of the geologists seeing Mars revealed. "Look at the exposure on that S_O_B" I remember hearing when the prominent rock appeared. Then the President called in his congratulations which went over the PA system. A highlight of my life, onr of several instances where I was in the Coolest Place in the world at that moment.

My carefully obtained Polaroid from a monitor in the Imaging team area, at the conclusion of the introductory scanning of the first photo obtained of the surface of Mars.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 23d

Something I noticed while painting my Viking lander backdrop mural at JPL in 1975. The first of a number of Viking related posts on this 50th anniversary of that unique historic occasion.

This photo on color slide film was made in i975 at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in some out of the way corner of the building where I was painting a large mural of the Martian surface. The uniqueness of the labeling, including 'This item is designed to go to the planet mars' was irrestaible to capture.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· 25d

Smoke influenced our skies in the High Desert a week ago. Here is the Moon at dawn July 12, reddened by a smoky atmosphere and partly veiled by patchy clouds.

This photograph shows the crescent Moon at the break of dawn July 12 2026, with the Sun illuminating a thin portion while the entire Earth facing side is also dimly lit by reflected light from the sunlit Earth. Patchy clouds are in front of the Moon and are diffusing the light of the sunlit portion. The overall colors are heavily filtered by smoke from regional fires.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Jun 30

For Asteroid day, my cover for the 1985 book by Donald Goldsmith, 'Nemisis-The Death Star and other Theories of Mass Extinction'. A rare (for me) black and white painting.

This is a B&W acrylic air and hand brush painting depicting the impact that caused the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurs are startled by the last event they will see. A disruption of the Oort cloud by a theoretical distant Solar companion star was pondered as a factor in this and possibly other mass extinctions. This is the reason for seeing multiple comets in the sky.

#Sciart

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Jun 30

The Full Moon rose tonight in a dry and very windy High Desert.

This photo of the Full Moon rising on the evening of June 29, 2026 combined 2 exposures made with my Canon SLR camera. One exposure captured the Moon's visual appearance, the other longer exposure caught the sky glow surrounding the Moon. The two photos were than, with much hand retouching, digitally combined in Photoshop.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Jun 25

Last night's launch from Vandenberg was a little early for optimal lighting at liftoff, but the plume remained illuminated for a while as twilight deepened, stretching and winding about as high altitude winds tugged at it in various directions at different altitudes.

This photo was made with a Canon 6D on a tripod with 2.5 sec exposure, stretched in brightness and sharpened to bring out the variety of textures in the dispersing plume. This one was relatively subtle in its colors, with blues, white and only a small red region later at the lower right. These launches and their aftermath are remarkable sights and these images are obtained to capture them for their striking novelty, with no implied endorsement of what the payloads are or who is behind them.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Jun 13

The diffusing of the light of the bright planets Venus and Jupiter through clouds during the evening of June 11 2026.

This photo was made with a tripod mounted Canon 6D, as part of a series with with exposures ranging from a couple to 10 seconds. Beyond 8 seconds the streaking of stars due to Earths rotation becomes annoying so I usually balance high ISO with short shutter speeds, all while trying to see how high an F stop I can use to maintain sharpness.

This photo nicely shows the light of Venus and dimmer Jupiter being diffused by translucent high clouds. This and other nights were quite windy, spoiling many exposures of several seconds even when trying to steadily hold down the top of the tripod during exposures.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Jun 13

Six photos with the same portion of the sky in common, showing brilliant Venus and bright Jupiter changing position in relation to the background stars between June 6th and 11th. The photos show differences in weather and atmospheric clarity between the dates.

This series of photos, made with a tripod mounted Canon 6D with the same 50mm lens, records the presence and movements of dazzling Venus and brilliant Jupiter as they passed a few degrees from each other between June 6 and 11 2026. Over the last week the brilliant pair, acting as the 'Evening Stars', crossed apparent paths in our twilight skies. At their closest on June 9 they closed to three full Moon widths apart from each other. I made it a point to capture this conjunction, not the closest between planets by any means, but a splendid sight as the two brightest planets drew close then apart over several days. Care is taken to have the same star background in all the photos, better showing the movements of the planets, two orbiting bodies seen from another orbiting body. Differences in weather, atmospheric clarity and time of exposures give each evenings photos a distinct 'look'. The last, the 11th, had clouds diffusing the light of the planets in varying and interesting ways. I would have made a time lapse sequence but the wind was near gale force and impossible to keep everything consistently still even when holding the tripod top.

The evening of June 8th as the planets loomed close together in the evening twilight skies. Elusive Mercury also shone brightly near the horizon at the lower right. In the High Desert Sunsets have long 'afterglows', and as the last blue of twilight retreats, the residual sunset illumination fades and the city lights between San Bernardino and Los Angeles supply their own ubiquitous lighting on the clouds. But even in this direction, with the cumulative Western light pollution, the stars can still be captured.

June 9 was the time of closest approach, when dazzling Venus and brilliant Jupiter were about 1.7 degrees apart in the sky, about three full Moon widths. When looking at the conjunction I mentally 'added' an extra Moon width outside the pair to appreciate how large Earth would look from the surface of the Moon. To the right of the planetary conjunction, Pollux and Castor are the highlighting heads of the twins of the constellation Gemini, whose nearly upright 'stick figures' are suggested by the loosely vertical groupings of stars extending below the bright stars.
Mercury is not often seen but it now looms low in the West as darkness allows its visibility. Mercury made a kind of 'long triangle' with Pollux and Castor, near the horizon directly below the bright star pair.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Jun 3

I made this animation showing a small impact on the Moon, the resulting crater and the effects of the debris cloud passing Earth. Done originally in response to the now ruled out 2032 impact on the Moon of the small asteroid 2024YR 4, the possibility of Lunar impacts remain. vimeo.com/1197048261

These are frames from an animation I made of an impact on the Moon showing stages in the formation of a small impact crater. This was done with modeling terrain with grayscale hand drawn height maps, 3D rendering and After Effects.

While this animation was composed around the possibility of a predicted Lunar impact at about 15:19 UT December 22, 2032, the possibility of a small stray asteroid hitting the Moon is always there. Flashes of modest impacts are frequently recorded on the night portion of the Moon with video camera equipped telescopes. Astronauts during the Artemis II mission reported seeing flashes across the night side of the Moon which were attributed to small impacts.

The animation these frames are from portrays the formation of a new 1.5 km diameter crater over an actual location on the Moon. The spreading inverted conical debris plume is based on experiments in vacuum chambers shooting projectiles into carefully prepared sand boxes. The lowermost portions of the uneven ejecta plume fall back on the surface and make the 'rays' of crushed rock which radiate like painted starbursts from the freshest craters. The outermost portions of the plume reach escape velocity, and some of that spreading hollow conical 'spray' can reach Earth.

A cloud of even fine debris passing across Earth could cause disruption of numerous satellites, a possibility that has multiplied with the proliferation of constellations of thousands of satellites. An explosive event in one could cause nearby satellites especially in their initial deployment stages to in turn be struck with a kind of 'kinetic chain reaction' taking place, the so called 'Kessler Effect' increasingly feared by those knowledgable about space matters since the idea was circulated in 1978. Along with the brief meteor cascade, numerous uncontrolled satellite re entries could be expected, one of which concludes the animation.

#Sciart

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· May 31

Tonight, May 30 2026, the Full Moon rose as a glowing orange yellow globe behind the craggy mountains, giving its soft light to the scenery as it climbed while the Western twilight faded away.

This is a photograph of the Full Moon rising as twilight fell on Joshua Tree, California. This is actually an elaborate composite of three photos made within a few minutes pf each other, with detail from two others made to conform to the preferred one of the Moon symmetrically placed among the silhouetting rocks. This 'reference photo' was exposed to show the Lunar tonal details. One longer exposure was used to add detail to the mountain textures, another recorded the tonal values in the sky surrounding the Moon as soon as it had cleared the mountains, including the brighter area near the Moon. These were manually fitted to and combined with the preferred exposure using Photoshop layers.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· May 26

I made an animation based on the now iconic Moonlit Earth photos from the Artemis II mission. Lightning, aurorae, satellites and even a meteor were captured in the photo sequence and are portrayed here. The actual animation is a hemispheric view optimized for Planetariums. vimeo.com/1195445033?s...

This is a cropped portion of a frame from a fisheye (hemispheric) animated sequence. I made a model of the spacecraft, and elaborated on the environment setups I had done earlier to create digital still portrayals of the mission for publication. I had gone to all that trouble so I figured 'why not'.
The stars and spacecraft orientation are from the real time telemetry based NASA simulations shown in their mission coverage, which had the spacecraft orientation but on their in live app screwed up the stars, with the celestial pole wildly out of place. NASA's 'Eyes' lacked the detailed spacecraft orientation, which the related department of NASA apparently declined to share with them, however 'Eyes' got the stars right. Together those resources allowed a decent reconstruction of the photogenic moments of the mission in wider views. The referenced animation lacks the spacecraft, concentrating on the Earth itself. I was trying with that animation to imitate what a low light color video camera might have captured.
#Sciart

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· May 20

Last night another launch plume was visible low on the Western horizon from a Vandenberg launch. The launch itself was near Sunset from Joshua Tree, so I didn't bother to look. I anticipated the plume catching the light later, and indeed as twilight receded there it was, spreading and colorful.

This photograph was made from Joshua Tree, California of the remnant plume from launch from Vandenberg last night, may 19 2026. Although the launch itself was not worth trying to see, I anticipated the plume persisting long enough to still be illuminated bu the Sun after twilight in my location. Sure enough, as the sky darkened the faint whitish wisps

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· May 20

Mars as seen from the Psyche spacecraft on its way to the metallic asteroid of the same name.

This is a color image of Mars made with near infra red, green and blue filters as the Psyche spacecraft headed away from the 'red planet' after its flyby to use its gravity to adjust the course of the probe. The white reduced Southern polar ice cap is prominent, with lighter dusty lowlands and darker more rocky equatorial highlands making the broad global contrasts visible through telescopes.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· May 4

The raw photos release from Artemis II have provided a great opportunity to explore the images in their variety and variations. As a Solar eclipse was photographed, the radiating coronal streamers extended from the hidden Sun. I brought out their details by sharpening combined different exposures.

This is a combination of multiple exposures of the Solar corona and inner Zodiacal Light seen extending from behind the moon as Artemis II was entering the Moon's shadow. Sharpening was applied to bring out the radiating fine detail. This kind of detail is routinely photographed all around the Moon during a Total Solar eclipse seen from the ground, but this is the first dedicated observation of this kind from near the Moon using cameras capable of capturing the sight. In a terrestrial eclipse the Moon barely covers the Sun, here the Moon is roughly 25 times the apparent diameter of the Sun.

As the eclipse as seen by Artemis II ended, a different portion of the Solar corona was seen extending from beyond the edge, or 'limb' of the Moon. This occasion was a kind of 'bloated' version of the kind of Total Solar eclipses we can see from the Earths surface. Through a cosmic co incidence, The Moon barely covers the Sun from Earth, sometimes not quite covering the entire disk and sometimes large enough to provide longer Totalities. In this spaceflight related instance the Moon is roughly 17 degrees across in their view rather than the barely Sun covering half degree we get on the ground. The Moons edge is visible across the entire frame as the wider diffused outer corona and the inner Zodiacal Light extend across a wide area of the sky.
Multiple exposures were carefully combined and sharpened to bring out subtle low contrast details in the Solar corona.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Apr 30

Tonight's rocket launch took place against a bright early twilight and was thus washed out. However, as usual, the sunlight played across the stretching and twisting remaining vapor column, which is initially a silvery white. The setting Sun's last light on the vapor gives it a striking red color.

This is a photograph made of the residual plume from the launch of April 29, 2026 from Vandenberg. When local Sunset in Joshua Tree, California took place a half hour previously, the fading sunlight colored some cirrus clouds beyond the frame a red/pink color, and the Western sky was a bright amber pink at the time of the launch. This made the launch itself marginal to observe, although people far to the East into Arizona etc would have seen it against a darker later twilight.

The remaining plume, however persists and is itself worthy of observation over time. Beginning as a gracefully arcing path, it quickly shows the effects of the high altitude winds blowing in different directions at different altitudes. It at first becomes a zigzagging path then is steadily pulled into stretched and knotted looking shapes. From the great altitudes of the plume along its length one would see the Sun at first above the horizon, casting on the vapor a harsh almost blueish white light not yet filtered by the atmosphere as we get it on the ground. The Sun setting behind the thousand mile distant horizon is highly reddened in its last traces, with whatever color predominating in the twilight visible from that altitude then determining the colors of the fading illumination, a process that happens at later times in higher altitudes and differs with the whims of local conditions. Thus from the illumination colors some sense of the three dimensional structure of the illuminated distended mass can be had over time. As I typed this I had a sudden impression of a drawing of a Road Runner bird, which I occasionally see here.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Apr 27

An April 1980 oil painting, Possibly the first showing the impact hypothesis of the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. Then no one knew where the crater was so I arbitrarily put it in distant Mongolia. A group of Saurornithoides are having their feast interrupted by a huge nearby impact.

This is an oil painting on illustration board portraying the impact that ended the Age of Dinosaurs. This 1980 work may well be the first painted portrayal of this hypothesis, although it took another decade for its location to be determined. As in space art, Dinosaur art over the decades preserves something of the knowledge and especially the limitations of related knowledge at the time it was created. My choice of Mongolia as the impact site reflected our lack of a determined impact location then. The predatory Dinosaur Saurornithoides shows the 'pre feathers' ideas of what such animals were like. They certainly look 'naked' after decades of seeing paintings of feather covered smaller Dinosaurs, but ideas changed and this painting freezes in time the state of related knowledge and ideas of the time in which it was created.

#Sciart

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart· Apr 23

This launch made me glad I captured it despite its more marginal lighting prospects. These exposures show more than was visually observable particularly in the color variety. In this sense I approach dim light subjects as an Astrophotographer would with some nebula with rich but dim color palettes.