Earth in the Universe
Our Earth is the only habitable - and inhabited - planet we know of, within a radius of five light-years or so. It alone is capable of harboring life, protecting it from the flow of radiation and energetic particles originating from the nearby and distant Universe, and carrying it safely from one end of our galaxy, the Milky Way, to the other. Because it is located at a fair distance from its host star, our Sun, because its magnetic field acts as a protective energy shield, because its thin layer of atmosphere filters out harmful radiations and consumes space debris, because volcanism and plate tectonics have contributed and continue to contribute, today, to the formation, movement and renewal of continental surfaces and the ocean floor, bringing to the surface various chemical elements stored at depth and necessary for the appearance, the preservation and perhaps even the complexification of life.
Through photographs acquired in the Occitanie region, digital simulations and 2D/3D models accompanied by short texts, discover the main stages in the creation of our Universe, and follow the movement of the stars and planets that populate it.
The creation of the world
How did our Universe come into being? When and how did its various components emerge? What is the largest known structure? What is a galaxy? How many stars are there in our Milky Way? Do exoplanets orbit any of them? When was our Solar System formed? What are its main constituents? What is panspermia? How did the Earth evolve into an environment suitable for the emergence and diversification of life?
These are just some of the questions that an ever-growing number of still and animated images, accompanied by short texts, help to address in a simple and straightforward way. These images have been conceived using a variety of photographic techniques, sometimes reworked using free and open source softwares (GIMP) or algorithms (G'MIC) developed by scientists at the GREYC digital science research laboratory. Discover these images ...
Some of these images have been used for public lectures, while others have been exhibited in art galleries, cultural centers and museums.
The movement of stars and planets
Observation of the sky, of the objects that fill it and the movements that animate them, goes back several millennia. Examples include the megalithic alignments of Nabta Playa (Upper Egypt) dating back to 4500 BC, the numerous star lists decorating the lids of sarcophagi and the ceilings of ancient Egyptian temples and tombs, Mesopotamian tablets detailing the Moon's cycle and the positions successively occupied by the planets visible to the naked eye, and so on. These were all sources of observations on which Greek scientists based their first theories of planetary motion. Celestial mechanics was born, and would later benefit from significant advances in the fields of mathematics and instrumentation.
Various photographs of the sky acquired in the Occitanie region, digital simulations carried out using free and open source softwares, and the report on an Art & Science show entitled « The tango of the stars », illustrate the movements that have always animated the planets, comets, stars and galaxies that dot our skies. Discover these visuals ... ...
