<![CDATA[THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008) Acrylic - 24" x 36"]]>THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008)

Acrylic - 24" x 36"

When I started this painting, the major theme concerned the power of the human intellect to light our way into the universe.

The balls in the picture came from a conversation I had with my son Adrian. 1/5

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/c1bfb40e-8649-408c-93ff-33b20376948b/the-astrophysicist-2008-acrylic-24-x-36RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 07:12:38 GMTTue, 05 May 2026 13:10:03 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008) Acrylic - 24" x 36" on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:28:12 GMT]]>@MichaelWhelan

Was playing with this just the other day. It is a solar system size calculator where you set the scale.

Human Verification

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(www.exploratorium.edu)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Chancerubbage/statuses/116522201406808247https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Chancerubbage/statuses/116522201406808247Tue, 05 May 2026 13:28:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008) Acrylic - 24" x 36" on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:14:07 GMT]]>Adrian, of course, went on to earn his PhD in Astrophysics, and this personal work eventually became a cover for BEYOND SCIENCE FICTION, a book collecting a major retrospective exhibition held at the Riverside Art Museum in 2017. 5/5



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BEYOND SCIENCE FICTION

In 2017, the Riverside Art Museum exhibited a major retrospective titled BEYOND SCIENCE FICTION. This book includes every painting displayed at RAM in the first published collection of Michael Whel…

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The Art of Michael Whelan (www.michaelwhelan.com)

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.art/users/MichaelWhelan/statuses/116522146016443261https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.art/users/MichaelWhelan/statuses/116522146016443261Tue, 05 May 2026 13:14:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008) Acrylic - 24" x 36" on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:13:31 GMT]]>On this scale, Mars at its closest would be a soccer ball a mile away. Pluto, a baseball 100 miles away. And the nearest star to the Sun is a half million miles away."

There's much more to the conversation that you can read here:

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ASTROPHYSICIST

When I started this painting, the major theme concerned the power of the human intellect to light our way into the universe. The balls in the picture came from a conversation I had with my son Adri…

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The Art of Michael Whelan (www.michaelwhelan.com)

4/5

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.art/users/MichaelWhelan/statuses/116522143699862856https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.art/users/MichaelWhelan/statuses/116522143699862856Tue, 05 May 2026 13:13:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008) Acrylic - 24" x 36" on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:12:46 GMT]]>“…but it sits at the tip of our noses compared with anything else in the universe.

 If the Earth were the size of a basketball, the Moon would be the size of a softball some ten paces away — the farthest we have ever sent people into space. 3/5

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.art/users/MichaelWhelan/statuses/116522140742377024https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.art/users/MichaelWhelan/statuses/116522140742377024Tue, 05 May 2026 13:12:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008) Acrylic - 24" x 36" on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:11:05 GMT]]>I mentioned the problem of scale in space travel as laid out by Neil deGrasse Tyson in his essay “Space: You Can’t Get There From Here.”

“Space is vast and empty beyond all earthly measure...The Moon is far when compared with where you might go in a jet airplane…” 2/5

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.art/users/MichaelWhelan/statuses/116522134105685912https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.art/users/MichaelWhelan/statuses/116522134105685912Tue, 05 May 2026 13:11:05 GMT