skip to main content

Straightening up the cosmos

Discover how Urs Wehrli stars in transforming messy skies into artistic masterpieces that enhance our view of galaxies and stars.

Written byPhil Plait
| 1 min read
Follow on GoogleGoogle News Preferred Source
Placeholder image

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

Oh, what's an astronomer to do? Faced with a messy sky, stars scattered here and there, faint and bright, how can we ever measure them? Perhaps we should turn to artists. Urs Wehrli has an idea of how to fix this situation. Faced with this picture:

Placeholder image showing Earth from space with an alert icon and the message ‘This image is no longer available.’

He turned it into this one:

Placeholder image showing Earth from space with an alert icon and the message ‘This image is no longer available.’

Ha! Awesome. It does make it easier to find the galaxies, doesn't it? Herr Wehrli has a knack for this; if you like that sky cleaning routine, you should see

what he does with alphabet soup, a conifer twig, and a grassy field with sunbathers. He has these pictures, and more, in his books

, including The Art of Tidying Up. I gotta say, I dig this guy's sense of humor.

Pictures credit: Urs Wehrli. Tip o' the dust pail to Lawrence Cuthbert, via Jeannie Jeannie.

Meet the Author

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe