Imag(in)ing Space: Fidelity and Artistic License in Pursuit of the Heavens

From the late-19th century to the early 21st century, space and planetary imaging has evolved along with the introduction of new technologies/techniques and new disciplines in science, engineering, art, and design. The 19th century astronomical artists and illustrators could hardly anticipate the Hollywood matte painting techniques that would be brought to bear on planetary imaging in the mid-20th century. Likewise, the artists of the early Space Age would feel out of place in the 3D computer visualization labs of today, where images of newly discovered exoplanets are rendered for public consumption. Even with these differences, however, there has been a constant interplay between science and art -- between "real data" and artistic imagination -- that defies a rigid distinction between scientific object and human observer, not to mention that between the work of the scientists and artists. The papers in this session explore this history of imaging and imagining the planets using three examples: the first explores the chromolithographic prints of the artist-turned-astronomer, Etienne Trouvelot; the second examines the artistic and cinematic conventions used by Chesley Bonestell, the leading space artist of the American Space Age; and the third addresses the emergence of digital art and computer visualization and its intersection with planetary exploration; the final paper looks at how the future was imagined in more fanciful illustrations from science fiction and interrogates the relationship between visualization and the cultural construction of the meaning of space exploration.