Author Archives: Chompsky

Behold: the Alfa Romeo Berlina Aerodinamica Tecnica (BAT) concept cars (BAT5 in black, BAT7 in blue and BAT9 in silver) built from 1953 to 1954, when auto makers were less fettered by the restraints of cost and production.

The result of Alfa Romeo giving Franco Scaglione at Bertone free rein to explore imaginative visions of aerodynamic road cars. These three, bought from their respective owners in the early 90s having toured the world individually, are being offered as one lot at auction later this month.

Yours for €12 to €17 million the three.

uncrate

And you thought it was Liam Neeson.

So much detail. Far too much for one photograph, that’s for sure. To wit:

The featured dark sky composite combines over 60 exposures spanning over 220 degrees to create a veritable menagerie of night sky wonders. Visible celestial icons include the Belt of Orion, the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, the California Nebula, and bright stars Sirius and Betelgeuse. You can verify that you found these, if you did, by checking an annotated version of the image. A bit harder, though, is finding Polaris and the Big Dipper. Also discernible are several meteors from the Quandrantids meteor shower, red and green airglow, and two friends of the astrophotographer. The picture was captured in January from Sardinia, Italy. You can see sky wonders in your own night sky tonight — including more meteors than usual — because tonight is near peak of the yearly Orionids meteor shower.

(Image: Tomáš Slovinský)

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The approach of Mars is so over.

For the next two months, Saturn and Jupiter will take centre stage in the night sky, drawing closer to earth and appearing closer together. To wit:

…in mid-December, a Great Conjunction will occur — when the two planets will appear only 0.1 degrees apart — just one fifth the angular diameter of the full Moon. And this isn’t just any Great Conjunction — Saturn (left) and Jupiter (right) haven’t been this close since 1623, and won’t be nearly this close again until 2080. This celestial event is quite easy to see — already the two planets are easily visible toward the southwest just after sunset — and already they are remarkably close. Pictured, the astrophotographer and partner eyed the planetary duo above the Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Three Peaks of Lavaredo) in the Italian Alps about two weeks ago.

(Image: Giorgia Hofer)

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Collaged installations by Berlin-based American artist Claire Börsch: fantastical, dreamlike ecosystems summoned up by amorphous swathes of flora, fauna, human figures and gemstones of which she tells Colossal:

I made a series of collages and then later realized that many of the species in the vintage illustrations had already gone extinct. Humanity has wiped out 68% of all our planet’s biodiversity since 1970, so working with vintage illustrations can be very heartbreaking

colossal