Posts Tagged planets
Diamond Star
Posted by Danielle in News & Happenings, Perspectives on May 27, 2011

Old news (but good news): meet the star with a 10 billion trillion trillion carat diamond at its core! I’ve been fascinated with the thought of diamond-core stars and planets ever since first reading 2010. Just last year, studies indicated possible carbon-rich, diamond-core planets; for those of you on a budget, there’s a cubic zirconia (and/or zircon) star that will suit any piece of cosmic-sized jewelry. Both cubic zirconia and zircon are diamond simulants, CZ being the most popular.
You might ask why I’m stuck on diamonds, seemingly out of the blue — the truth is, I’ve been saving this post up. I am just finishing Diamonds & Diamond Grading, as part of my Graduate Gemologist coursework, and today is my first final exam in approximately 7.5 years. I have been studying THE SPARKLIES at great length and thus ends my weak attempt at a tie-in between my two favorite subjects: SPACE, and SPARKLY ROCKS.
Incidentally, the reason you don’t see more star-shaped diamonds — whole, one-piece stars, I mean — is because so much of the rough carat weight is lost in cutting. An efficient shape, it is not.
Planetary Dawn
A quick post for your Wednesday…
This month, four of the five naked-eye planets gather along the eastern horizon near dawn. The celestial grouping is seen here just before sunrise on May 5, from a beach near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Starting near the top of the frame, the brightest beacon is Venus. Mercury is below and right of Venus and brilliant Jupiter is lower still, near image center. Below Jupiter, Mars is relatively faint and struggles the most to shine through a thin cloud bank and the warming twilight glow. Watch, and as the month progresses the tantalizing configuration will change, with Mars and Jupiter moving higher while Venus and Mercury wander through the sky closer to the rising sun.
Brother Sun, Sister Moon
I’ve had gemstones on the brain today (more so than normal, I mean), after reading about the $45.6M sale of this Fancy Intense Pink diamond at Sotheby’s on Tuesday (if you like sparkly things, watch the video. SPARK. LY. THINGS.) Annnnnyway, I keep going back to Etsy to visit this stunning planetary ring, so I might as well post it so I can continue to admire it long after it sells. Really, it merits going to the listing and looking through all the photos, as every angle has lovely and interesting detail.
This ring is the penultimate in the evolution of a ten year design process. In order to achieve a “Celestial” look, I must make this ring the hard way. Each dot or “star” is actually a small hole bored through the Ti ring itself and then riveted with Fine Silver. Silver, being the whitest of all metals, is a great stand-in for stars as well as the perfect contrast to the gunmetal gray of Titanium. The Yellow Diamond Sun and the White Diamond Moon are each set into metals of opposing colors to reflect the yin/yang nature of the universe as I see it. The planets are each represented by historically corresponding metals; 14K Pink Gold stands for the planets of Mercury and Mars; Fine Silver stands for Venus and Jupiter, and 18K yellow Gold represents Saturn. This ring is the best example, to date, of what I have been striving for, a subdued astronomical look of many small and even smaller dots punctuated by different metals as planets in a sea of stars.
Kudos to Patrick Burt for his stunning creation!
The Space Art of Jeff Ward
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture on August 24, 2010
I’m always keen to find new space artists to feature here, and today’s discovery is the talented Jeff Ward. His work spans science fiction, fantasy and space/astronomical, and it’s all definitely worth a look!
I think this one here is my favorite ↓
Porcelain
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture on May 25, 2010
I couldn’t resist one more space art piece, especially since it’s named (and seemingly inspired?) by my favorite Moby song, Porcelain.
Age of Discovery
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture, Computer & Internet on May 21, 2010
Had to post more space art, because this one is a wallpaper, and aren’t you just falling over yourself, running to download it? Because I know I was! Beautiful, Hubble-like softness — I love it.
Stunning Space Art
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture on May 19, 2010
I was delighted when I discovered this collection of space art last Friday. My favorites are shown here (and linked to their DeviantArt file pages, so you can see each one embiggered.) Enjoy!
I love the colors on this ↑
Beautiful composition and simplicity ↑
Fantastic contrast of warm and cool colors (and wow, the planet’s surface detail!) ↑
Amazing composition, ocean colors! Funnily enough, almost all the images I was drawn to were by the same artist. ↑
Planet Posters
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture, Entertainment on February 10, 2010
All art on this post © justinvg.
I owe my finding of these fantastic Star Wars planet “poster” graphics to my friend Lexa (who makes me look like I have merely a casual interest in the Star Wars universe. Which, uh… is really not the case!!) I dearly hope justinvg gets these made as actual posters; they’d go so well with the IYA 2009 posters which I long to own.
UPDATE: Posters available here!!
Celestial Glass
Posted by Danielle in Collectibles on January 19, 2010
I was reminded of these fantastic glass sculptures last week by a commenter; I saw a display of Glass Eye Studio’s Celestial Series in a rock shop coming back from the Oregon coast after Christmas. I’m a sucker for glass anyway, but these are particularly spectacular — I especially like the Moon (naturally) and Mercury.
History of Space Films
Posted by Danielle in Entertainment on October 16, 2009
Go to DailyFill.com for the full-size version of their brief history of space films since Star Wars, mapped by location (and color-coded for box-office hits… and misses.)

























This blog celebrates space exploration, human spaceflight and the heavens, through
My name is Danielle Signor, and I am a space cadet. 









