Christian Waldvogel

SPACE FROM SPACE Nº 2
AS IF THE STARS WERE COUNTLESS

A calibrated photograph of the sky after astronaut Jim Voss' recommendation is used to simulate the view of Space from Space.

See also: Space from Space Nº 1: «Dear Jim Voss, how does Space look
from Space?»

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LED lightbox with lithographic film, video panel, various photo prints.
Produced with the kind help of High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch / Switzerland
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Download: Jungfraujoch landscape addon for Stellarium. Click here for screenshot
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created 2008-07-10 | update 2008-08-11 | Copyright (c)2002–2008 by Christian Waldvogel

SPACE FROM SPACE Nº 2
AS IF THE STARS WERE COUNTLESS

In an email confirming that he had returned my poster, Jim Voss wrote: «If you go to the highest mountain, on the clearest darkest night, you will see about 1/2 the stars with about 1/2 the brightness of what you see from space.»

To follow his suggestion, I temporarily became a fellow of the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch and spent a few nights at an altitude of 3580m, equipped with an astronomy tripod and a digital camera.

the jungfraujoch high altitude research station

working on the terrace of jungfraujoch research station

screenshot simulation jungfraujoch at daytime

ﬁg. 1) The sphinx observatory on Jungfraujoch, Switzerland
ﬁgs 2-4) A computer simulation of the night and day sky at Jungfraujoch for June, 30th, 2008, 01:30 AM UTC+1

The exposure time which would yield an image that represents exactly what was seen by the naked eye was determined, and the brightness of the stars was measured.

The final piece is a totally darkened room with a lightbox showing twice the amount of stars glowing at twice the brightness, and a panel documentating the work process, lit by low brightness red light.

calibration images from jungfraujoch

ﬁgs. 4+5) Digital calibration images (exposure 10s – 60s @ f2.8 / ASA1600). The weakest stars on the 4th image did not show on the 3rd but were visible by the naked eye, this defined the exposure for the final image.

ﬁg. 6) Installation views Helmhaus Zürich, 2008.
Lithographic film on LED lightbox emitting 3 Lux, red lit printed documentation and video, Edition of 3

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THANKS
The artist would like to express his profound thankfulness to these persons, who have contributed in many ways to the success of this project: Jim S. Voss, Prof. Dr. Erwin Flückiger, Louise Wilson, Martin Fischer, Joan Fischer, Claudia Meier, Tobias Madörin, Patricia Nydegger, Reto Thomet, Stephan Diethelm, Cheese & Chocolate, Jörg Waldvogel, Irène Waldvogel, Bob E. Schutz, Marianne Meier, Markus Schaub, Benjamin Roffler, Deny Fousek and Vinzenz Blaas.
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created 2008-07-10 | Copyright (c)2002–2008 by Christian Waldvogel