As planned at the end of my last blog post, today I explored the theme Nebula’s in more depth finding visual imagery of them to discover exactly what they look like and whether they can differ. As well as researching into who they form and what they are made of, all to help strengthen my understanding of Nebulas and help me decide if this is area I want to focus my project in.
Nebula Images
From the Pinterest imagery, it linked me to an article containing a selection of the most breathtaking images taken by the Hubble telescope, shown below.
Key Points
- Range and vividness of colour – How is this beauty and variation possible in space? – We assume space is just darkness but it’s actually full of colour and life.
- Organic fluid and gaseous forms – Creates a natural feel to the imagery –
- Tonal contrast – Light and dark – Adds emphasis onto the vividness of the colours and to the power of space, by adding greater impact on the user due to the light being focused in one location. Which I believe is effective by symbolising all the energy is confined to that single place, adding tension and pressure to the pieces. I think this could be an interesting technique to use within my own work to create a sense of power and awe into my work.
Nasa
Looking through NASA’s website I came across multiple articles describing different images obtained by the Hubble telescope and what event had caused these Nebula’s to form.
Star Inflating Bubble
The article explains how a star has created the Bubble Nebula through interstellar winds blowing it up like a bubble.
refer to research folder
What I learnt?
- There are different types of Nebulae – Eagle, Bubble,
- Colours created in the imagery is created by different elements – Each element has a colour – blue = oxygen, green = hydrogen, red = nitrogen
Points of interest
- Interstellar winds – How do they form? How destructive are they? Could this happen in earth?
- Idea of constellations ad how these relate to nebulas
- Interesting Names – Alpha Centauri, Eagle Nebula, Pillars of Creation – Intrigued as to how people came up with these names – I feel they could be interesting names for game locations.
- I feel I should research more into what the Hubble telescope is and how it collects these images, as this may help me to understand how these amazing images are collected. Therefore I could use this information to define game mechanics.
Hubble Peers into the Storm
An article describing the storm image below.
Refer to Research FOlder
What did I learn?
- There are storms out in space
- “High Excitation Blob” is a dense object that was part of the early stages of a massive star formation.
Points of Interest
- Beauty and amazement of the imagery – organic flow of the cloud like gases, tonal range, contrasting bright and dark areas, speckles of starlight – All successful in creating captivating landscape, which doesn’t feel possible. Colours and details are aspects I would want to explore further and possibly use similar imagery within my game idea.
- I particularly like the vocabulary used to describe the storm – “maelstrom of glowing gas”, “High-Excitable Blob”, “torrential stellar winds” – As the text creates imagery within itself and causes the picture to feel more mystical, magical and story like. I also believe these could be useful phrases to draw from due to their descriptive qualities. Therefore creating a unique and creative set of concepts for a possible game world.
Hubble Captures the Beating Heart of the Crab Nebula
REFER TO RESEARCH FOLDER
WHAT DID I LEARN?
- Crab Nebula contains an exploded star in the centre of it.
- Beams of energy pulsate out of the nebula – spinning 30x a second
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Again with the previous article I find the vocabulary to be filled with imagery, such as “unimaginable cosmic violence”, “‘heartbeat’ radiation signature”, “ghostly blue glow”. I find these phrases beautiful as they bring up so much vivid imagery that could fuel a whole game world concept. Therefore I feel I could draw from these pictures to help ideate.
Nebulae: What are they and where do they come from?
Having learnt a lot about different Nebulas; what they look like, what can happen within them and how the varieties of colours are produced, I decided to research more theoretically into what nebulae actually are, how they form and where they come from, to give background information on the topic. Expanding my research as well as helping me to identify if a theoretical path is something I want to look further into.
REFER TO RESEARCH FOLDER
What did i learn?
- Nebula are the birth and death places of a star
- Made from gases – Mainly hydrogen and helium gases
- Birth of a star – Gravitational attraction – gravity pulls dust/ gas together and forms stars
- Different types of nebulas – Diffuse, Dark, Supernova, Planetary
- Phases of nebula – Life and death cycle.
Plan
Looking back over the research I feel it is clear to me that I am more interested within the aesthetics of the Nebulas rather than the background information of how they form or what they do. Particularly being interested within the vividness of the colour, large tonal contrast and the fluid gaseous forms, all helping to create this mystical setting which is captivating and awe-inspiring. Therefore I plan to research further into the aesthetics of nebulae, possibly trying to find artists who create a similar effect within their work and what techniques they use to achieve this.
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