In 1609–1610, Galileo Galilei was the first to investigate celestial phenomena using a telescope (perspicillum), a new instrument invented in the Netherlands, which was first primarily used for military and nautical purposes. Galilei improved it and used it for his observations in astronomy. In spring 1610, Galilei published his famous…

In 1968 the first views of the whole Earth from space were not merely an image but an event. Such images have become so casually available now that it is difficult to think ourselves back to a time when no-one had any real idea what the Earth would look like…

Looking at the first man made image of the whole Earth from space is no doubt an experience more powerful than any philosophical argument or scientific theory. The recognition of our home planet connects us with our inner emotions, stimulates reflections about a larger sense of self-identity and transforms our apprehension of what it means to be a human being. It also redefines the idea of an intertwined global community of mankind. If there is a “Mona Lisa” of human unity, environmentalism and co-dependency, the Blue Marble image is certainly its flagship.

How would you describe your project on meteorites to an astronomer or a space historian? I usually describe the work quite matter-of-factly, as a project on meteorite falls, and if there is a mutual understanding and interest, I elaborate more on the conceptual side of the work. Usually, there is…

Your website says you all share a love for machines and outer space. One of your projects, Satelliten, seems to address both of these loves, yet in a rather original way: by focusing on satellites, the media that give us access to knowledge about Earth from space, and are rarely…

My friends took upon themselves to publish a brochure of my Suprematist works. In spite of their wish to publish them in a complete form, they succeeded to a certain extent only. The brochure came out in black and gray, with only few of the works. The finances prevented them…

Books aspire to depict new worlds. As we begin reading a book, we set out ready to believe it, and recognize in its worlds the objects of our own desires — things, as they are in reality. To comment on a book therefore means to compete with the author in…

This is how Dr. Candice Joy Hansen-Koharcheck from the Planetary Science Institute, once Voyager Imaging Team Experiment Representative and the first person to see the data sent by Voyager 1 on 14th February, 1990, remembers her first impressions of the images: “That is certainly an iconic photo. I have vivid…

The 75.5 kg of matter forming the satellite Telstar were sent into orbit in July 1962 by the United States. It was not the first, nor the biggest, fastest or most far-travelling man-made assemblage leaving Planet Earth. However, few objects sent into space have achieved the same popular cultural recognition…