Meanwhile, he produced countless books and magazine articles, usually accompanied by his skilful illustrations. Using its 4-inch reflector, he created pioneering photographs of the moon and planets as well as a photographic atlas of the Milky Way. Rudaux built his own private observatory near the coast of Normandy. Mars as seen from the moon Deimos (Credit: PInterest)

A 65-km-wide crater on Mars is named in his memory as is the asteroid 3574 Rudaux. Durant III.īelow is a painting by Rudaux of Mars as seen from the moon Deimos. Presented initially, and posthumously, to: Lucien Rudaux himself, Chesley Bonestell and Ludek Pesek and also to the artistic legends: Robert T. Selecting a name to represent this distinguished and prestigious honor, in recognition and in acknowledgement for lifetime contributions to Astronomical Art, the IAAA instituted the Lucien Rudaux Memorial Award. In 2000, the IAAA (International Association of Astronomical Artists) created a Hall of Fame into which celebrated masters of the genré of Space Art would be inducted. From 1903, he was a science writer and artist for Nature and, from 1905, for L'Illustration. He was among the first ever to observe a solar flare in white light and published numerous reports of this and his many other observations in the society's bulletin between 18. The night sky of Mars with its two small moons (1)Īt the age of 18 Rudaux joined the French astronomical society. (Wikipedia)Īnd below Rudaux has imagined the vision from the night sky of Mars looking at its two moons.

The moon's surface appears red because the only sunlight visible has refracted through the Earth's atmosphere on the edges of the earth in the sky. In the painting above Lucien Rudaux has shown what he believed a lunar eclipse might look like from the surface of the moon.

Lucien Rudaux (1874-1947) is relatively unknown today but he was an amateur astronomer and professional artist who during the 1920s to 1930s produced spacescapes of such accuracy that they still hold up well even today. Jupiter from its satellite Io by Lucien Rudaux 1937 (1) Alongside Bonestell on the other side of the world in France was Lucien Rudaux who must also be credited with taking art and the minds and dreams of Earthlings into outer space. Yesterday I introduced you to Chesley Bonestell and his pioneering work in developing Astronomical Art.

The art of space ron miller