NASA or MOMA? Play the Game!

March 22, 2013 9:02 AM

Here are some pictures. Were they taken in space, or painted here on Earth?
posted by Brandon Blatcher (29 comments total)

Wow, thats amazing.

I thought it'd be dead simple. But some, like #6, really confused me.
posted by vacapinta at 9:07 AM on March 22, 2013

My space camp kid could photograph that.
posted by 2bucksplus at 9:08 AM on March 22, 2013 [3 favorites]

Not too hard if you know your modern art. But fun!

#18 is misleading because it's a super-close up. I only knew it because I've had a print of that Van Gogh up in my living room for much of my adult life.
posted by aught at 9:09 AM on March 22, 2013

19/20. Brush strokes give away most of the paintings (except the Pollack, but, you know, it's so a Pollack). #2 is the one that fooled me--just so pie crust that I couldn't imagine it as anything but a painting.
posted by dersins at 9:15 AM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah, #2 fooled me, too; the rest seemed so straightforward I started second-guessing myself: "maybe there's some bizarre field somewhere that looks exactly like a Van Gogh painting?" But no. Oh, I also had a coin-toss on #3 which I figured could be some sort of Gerhard Richter-esque abstract. Still...as these things go it seemed oddly straightforward. Not to say that the photos aren't often stunningly beautiful and easily imaginable as something you'd see on a gallery wall. But, you know, as photos.
posted by yoink at 9:23 AM on March 22, 2013

Come on, Atlantic, this isn't a paper page, it's a website. Would a couple of radio buttons kill you?
(Yes, I'm too lazy to scroll back and forth.)
posted by Gordafarin at 9:23 AM on March 22, 2013 [8 favorites]

18/20

#3 was bullshit

#20 was a trick question or something...
posted by Windopaene at 9:23 AM on March 22, 2013

Back in the mid-90s, NASA used to maintain a free-to-access FTP server crammed to the gills with all of their space photography. Not sure if it still exists, but I used to go on their and grab as much imagery as I could. It gets easier to recognize topographic features by looking for shadows and other telltales.
posted by backseatpilot at 9:24 AM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah, if you look at a lot of abstract or impressionist art, and get a feel for the way the artists' chosen medium works, it's pretty easy to pick out the art. #3 gave me pause a moment, because it could be a photo of a sculpture I'm not familiar with.

On the other hand, this underlines what a spectacular treasure NASA is culturally as well as scientifically. Those are beautiful.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:24 AM on March 22, 2013

19 out of 20 also. Number one got me. Surprised to get so many. 13. NASA: A fan of sand in oman (Via Chris Hadfield) is beautiful. I can recommend @Cmdr_Hadfield's twitter feed.
posted by 0 answers at 9:25 AM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Sometimes even here on Earth: Photograph or Painting?
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 9:28 AM on March 22, 2013

God I love Richter.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:31 AM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

19 out of 20. I got #3 wrong. It was really a coin toss on that one. I follow Chris Hadfield's amazing twitter feed also. I'm surprised no one has done an FPP on him and his Twitterfeed. Between the photography and music and the school visits from space and how funny he is, he's really doing a lot up there to increase visibility and accessibility space science.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 9:43 AM on March 22, 2013

Using 3 Richters out of 20 images is kind of lazy.
posted by R. Mutt at 9:44 AM on March 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

There's been two posts about Chris Hadfield.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:44 AM on March 22, 2013

Shit, I even commented in one of those threads, Brandon!
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 9:50 AM on March 22, 2013

Someone should tell Australia that they look like a painting.
posted by Chutzler at 9:53 AM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Those Vieville pieces weren't too shabby, either.
posted by maudlin at 9:55 AM on March 22, 2013

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day is also great.
posted by jetlagaddict at 10:03 AM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

The latest from Hadfield (one hour ago).
posted by maudlin at 10:04 AM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

18/20 - missed numbers 2 and 10,both of which I thought were paint. Well, 10 just looked so much like mountains that I thought it was a trick.

I love @Cmdr_Hadfield's twitter. He's got a pretty good voice too.
posted by maryr at 10:06 AM on March 22, 2013

I only got #20 wrong. The rest were kind of easy, and I based most of my answers on color palette.
posted by rocket88 at 10:12 AM on March 22, 2013

#20 was the only one that had me completely fooled, I got a few wrong but that one seemed obviously a painting to me!
posted by TwoWordReview at 10:30 AM on March 22, 2013

Using 3 Richters out of 20 images is kind of lazy.

3.0's not that high on the Richter scale.
posted by yoink at 10:46 AM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

What the hell, Australia? Are there regular, strong North-to-South winds blowing over that patch? That looks so much like dripping paint to me.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:09 AM on March 22, 2013

#13
posted by yeti at 2:19 PM on March 22, 2013

The CSA isn't NASA.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:07 PM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

20 is the only one I really had trouble with, what is going on in that picture?
posted by Brent Parker at 11:43 PM on March 22, 2013

Earth from Orbit in 2012
posted by homunculus at 3:19 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]