Earth Origin and Destiny The Astronomical Art of Don Dixon

060-Meteoric-Rain

Meteoric Rain - during the formation of the earth, millions of tons of dust and rock rained down every day ; gouache on illustration board, 1976

066-Moon-Capture-Theory

An explanation for the moon's origin is that a ring of dust around earth slowed the passing moon, allowing it to be captured by earth's gravity. The modern consensus is that our moon formed through an impact with a small planet, but the dust capture hypothesis is still a possible mechanism for other worlds. ; gouache on illustration board, 1976

126-Planetesimals

Planetesimals - the seeds of planets crash together in the solar nebula, gradually growing larger ; acrylic and gouache 1985

172-Red-Giant-Sun

Red Giant Sun - In about 5 billion years our sun will warm and swell to consume the earth; the distant moon transits the swollen solar disk ; acrylic and gouache on illustration board, 1984, © Don Dixon

273-First-Rain

for Newsweek Japan, rains begin to fill craters on the young earth

274-First-Seas

the first seabeds were probably shallow impact basins

297 - Early Earth

338-Proto-Planets

planetesimals collide near the forming earth, 4.5 billion years ago - painting by Don Dixon

340 - Comets Bring Water

Impacting comets may have brought water to the early earth - acrylic and digital hybrid painting by Don Dixon, 2000

Protoplanetary Disk

The Solar Nebula rotates about the newborn sun - digital, 1995, a remarkably prescient depiction of a forming planetary system similar to the protoplanetary disk of HL Tauri observed by the ALMA instrument in 2014; © Don Dixon

380-Life-Cloud-Meteors

Meteors bring organic chemicals to primitive Earth - painting by Don Dixon for Geo Magazine

399-White-Dwarf-Collision

A scene far more common within a globular cluster, where stars swarm like bees and collisions between them are more likely, this digital painting shows the final minutes of our sun's life as a white dwarf approaches it. As tidal forces stretch the sun into a pear-shape, the delicate balance between gravity and radiation pressure fails, and the sun ruptures. The energy released as the two stars merge would vaporize the earth. Painted for November, 2002 cover of Scientific American.

400-Yucatan-Impact

An asteroid 5-10 miles across impacts in the Yucatan to end the age of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. A fine layer of clay, rich in the element iridium -- more concentrated in meteorites than in terrestrial rocks -- marks the geological boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary eras. This clay layer is believed to have precipitated out of a planet-blanketing cloud of dust that was ejected into the atmosphere by the impact and subsequent fires. The dust darkened and cooled the earth so much that many species became extinct.

420-First-Rains-02

421-First-Seas-02

422-Methane-Earth-01

442-Cool-Early-Earth

A shield volcano adds to the atmosphere of the young earth, as a much-closer moon rises over an ocean in which life does not yet stir ; digital, 2006

457-moon-capture-theory-diagram

Infographic shows processes for planet to aquire a satellite. A developing planet's halo of gas expands to capture a passing body (top). Its gravitational sphere of influence expands as well (middle). Interactions between passing asteroids may cause one to fall into orbit (bottom). Artwork © 2007 Don Dixon / cosmographica.com

474-winter-solstice-diagram

The beginning of winter marks the time when earth, in its orbit, is oriented so that the northern hemisphere is maximally tilted away from the sun. This results in a shorter period of daylight and lower angle of incidence of sunlight; days are cool and short. Around the solstice, the sun does not rise as seen from any point north of the Arctic Circle. The Southern Hemisphere begins its summer at this time. Digital diagram © 2007 by Don Dixon.

475-end-of-cosmology

Diagram created for Scientific American depicting the view from earth in the far distant future, as the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy merge to create a giant elliptical galaxy. Ultimately, the last stars wink out and and the frozen cinder that is earth's surface is blasted smooth by a trillion years of micrometeorite bombardments. Only a few stars relieve the eternal night.

478-Hadean-Earth

483-Planet-formation

The early solar system was a maelstrom of violence as planetesimals collided with one another and with the forming planets. Digital painting, cover comp for Scientific American, 2008; © Don Dixon / cosmographica.com

488-dead-earth-far-future

Bilions of years hence, the sun will swell, warm, and boil away earth's oceans, transforming our once-verdant world into a desiccated wastleand. Whatever intelligent beings might exist then may gaze over the salt flats of extinct seas at a cosmic spectacle, the slow-motion collision between our Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy, which will trigger a wave of star formation. Interior painting for the April, 2013 issue of Astronomy Magazine.

099-fire-fountains

099 Fire Fountains; lava fountains erupt on the molten surface of the young earth; acrylic and gouache on illustration board, approximately 10x7 inches, 1975; © Don DIxon

356-Primitive-Earth

356_Primitive_Earth - Comets batter the newborn earth during the Late Heavy Bombardment about 4 billion years ago, bringing water to fill the first seas. Featured in Scientific American. copyright Don Dixon / cosmographica.com

061-Primordial-Clouds

Primordial Clouds - local condensations within clouds of interstellar gas coalesce to form the nuclei of new solar systems ; acrylic and gouache on illustration board, 1976. © Don Dixon

062-Birth-Of-The-Sun

5 billion years ago the solar nebula flattens into a disk, pressure within the central mass triggers nuclear fusion ; gouache on illustration board, 1976

Formation of the Solar System

Forming Solar System; comets swarm the newborn sun as planetesimals collide over the young earth, which glows red hot amidst the ring of debris splashed out by the formation of the moon. acrylic and gouache on illustration board, 18.5x13.5inches,1993;© Don Dixon

067-First-Lunar-Tides

The newborn moon looms close and large in the earth's sky, stirring huge tides; cover of The Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke ; acrylic on canvas, 1975, © Don Dixon

188-Moon-Forming-Impact_v2

Moon Forming Impact - during a grazing collision with the young Earth, a Mars-sized planet named Thera splashes magma into space that ultimately forms the moon in this depiction of the currently most favored theory of the moon's origin. hybrid digital and traditional art, 1994/2022 © Don Dixon

127 - Moonrise 4 Billion BCE

A young, closer moon rises above the ancient sea, invoking huge tides that scour the continents ; acrylic and gouache on board, 1979, © Don Dixon

Accretion of the Earth - 4.5 billion years ago, our planet coallesced out of swarming planetesimals - dust, ice, and rock. digital rework of 1975 acrylic and gouache painting; copyright Don Dixon

Venus

The Moon