Posted on Aug 29, 2020

APOD: 2020 August 29 - Martian Chiaroscuro

Maj William W. 'Bill' Price

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Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Martian Chiaroscuro." My first thought was why (and how) a montage of human hands and fingers found its way to the daily APOD. Boy, was I wrong. A 'chiaroscuro' describes the arrangement or treatment of light and dark parts in a pictorial work of art. Using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), scientists captured this image looking down into the dune fields of a southern highlands crater from a height of ~400 miles. The Sun is only about 5 degrees above the Martian horizon, so only the dune crests were caught in full sunlight. Seasonal frost already lines the dunes. Looking at this picture, I can already feel the cold, sense the remoteness, and almost hear the wind blowing across and sculpting the sand as it has for countless millennia. A Martian Chiaroscuro.

APOD: 2020 August 29 - Martian Chiaroscuro

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Chiaroscuro by Robert Sheldon

This visual-arts technique of using light and darkness has a natural parallel in music, as illustrated by this exceptional work. Chiaroscuro comprises of fou...

Belated thank you my friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for Saturday, August 29, 2020 entitled "Martian Chiaroscuro."

Image:
1. Martian Chiaroscuro - Image Credit - HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA
2. 2020-08-29 Light and dark in Martian Chiaroscuro
3. 2020-08-29 Mars the Red Planet highlighted

APOD Background:
"Explanation: Deep shadows create dramatic contrasts between light and dark in this high-resolution close-up of the martian surface. Recorded on January 24, 2014 by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the scene spans about 1.5 kilometers. From 250 kilometers above the Red Planet the camera is looking down at a sand dune field in a southern highlands crater. Captured when the Sun was about 5 degrees above the local horizon, only the dune crests were caught in full sunlight. A long, cold winter was coming to the southern hemisphere and bright ridges of seasonal frost line the martian dunes. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, one of the oldest operating spacecraft at the Red Planet, celebrated the 15th anniversary of its launch from planet Earth on August 12."

Chiaroscuro by Robert Sheldon
This visual-arts technique of using light and darkness has a natural parallel in music, as illustrated by this exceptional work. Chiaroscuro comprises of four interconnected, dance-like movements that portray various dance gestures. The first movement is dark and menacing, the second depicts a dreamy forest scene, the third movement has a jazz and Latin influence, and the the final movement comprises a joyous tarantella that accelerates to its tumultuous ending.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uQeZ7W7EeY

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