Michael Carroll, astronomy artist and science writer, wants you to meet a couple of really weird volcanoes. In his August 13
lecture, Carroll will use his incredible paintings and other media to introduce you to some out-of-this-world eruptions and talk about his new book.
Q: The name of your new book is
Alien Volcanoes. Tell me about the title.
A: We live in such an exciting time! The title refers to the discoveries being made as we speak about volcanoes on other planets and moons. These things are often very alien when compared to volcanic eruptions here on Earth or on other Earth-like planets, so in the book we begin by talking about terrestrial volcanoes, then move on to explore the really weird ones out there.
Q: What inspired you to paint and write about volcanoes?
A: Their power and majesty, and the part they play in keeping our planet life-sustaining. That's something a lot of people don't realize-without volcanoes on Earth, our environment would be starved of atmosphere, and our continents would be starved of minerals. Volcanoes are the planet's recycling machine.
Q: How difficult is it to bring a landscape to life based on only a photograph?
A: Actually, for some of these paintings we don't even have photographs. Much of the data that comes to us from spacecraft is digital rather than visual. We learn indirectly, so I need to make educated guesses constrained by the science. Even in the case of photos, we often have only distant views. For example, the closest Cassini came to Saturn's moon Enceladus at the time I did the painting for our book was about 300 kilometers. From that distance, it's really hard to tell what things would look like on a human scale. These phenomena are impressive -- Enceladus has geysers that thunder into the airless sky some 400 kilometers. Imagine what that would be like, just standing near such a vent. That's what I have to do as artist.
Q: Which volcano was the most fun to paint and why?
A: Moonglow, which shows the early Earth and moon. In those days, our moon had magma and oceans, and the early Earth had no classic continents. Instead, landforms were almost exclusively raised rims of impact craters. It was a dramatic time. I chose to do the painting as a night scene to emphasize the glow coming from the lava fields. The light was a challenge, but I love a painting that makes me think and stretches me.
Carroll's lecture is
Wednesday, August 13, in Ricketson Auditorium.
Call 303-322-7009 to make reservations.
And if you'd like to try your hand at painting anything from the broiling craters of Mercury to the frozen wilderness of the outer ice moons, you can take Carroll's six-week course at the museum this fall.