A live radio transmission performance between the Earth and the Moon

Opticks was developed by Astronomers without Bourders as part of Global Astronaomy Month 2014.

During this live performance radio signals are used to send images to the Moon from radio antennas in one of three locations around the world, Brazil, the UK or Switzerland. These signals bounce off the Moon and return to Earth where they are picked up by the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope. These moonbounced images are presented in real time as they return from the Moon and at the end of the performance they are printed and mailed back as postcards to the people who submitted them. The radio waves of this image are still travelling through the cosmos at the speed of light!

Images sent to the Moon and back as radio signals.

Poem accompanying my image to the Moon

Dear Lunar Gaia,

I have looked lovingly at you in the face, almost every week since I can remember, and yet every line, every crease and smile has remained perfectly serene.

It is time to tell you that your timeless beauty and celestial illumination has been a mesmerising and anchoring force in my life.

As I feel beckoned and reborn by your tidal magnetism, the closer you pull me to feel you, the more I immerse myself singularly in your rhythms, diving deeper, longer and more wholly.

Deep within you continue to effect us.

Continue to bless us with your stillness, your sharpness and wit.

Continue to permeate our mythologies, and corrode our ambitions with the harsh realities of your extreme silent cadence, so that we can better understand our place in this universe; each time you bounce images and mirror back at us, the reflection of who we really are.

Without you Lunar Gaia, the life within me, and the life within the body of the ocean, does not stir or spawn.

Without you dear Moon, the heart of our planet will stagnate and die.

Without you the night would be eternal.

Your humble Earthling admirer,

Dr. Sarah Jane Pell, Melbourne Australia. 11:17AM 10 April 2014, EARTH. 37.8098° S, 144.9648° E

GAM AstroArt: Touching the Moon with Art and Footsteps. Streamed live on May 1, 2014

This live hangout features Andrew Chaikin, Wendell Mendell, Sarah Nobel, Frank Shiner, Jan van Muijlwijk, Daniela De Paulis, Jancy McPhee, Mike Simmons, & Pamela Gay discussing the significance of the artwork, the performance off the Moon using OPTICKS radio wave technology, and explore the impact of human presence on the Moon.

The project has been realized by visual artist Daniela de Paulis (IT/NL) in collaboration with Jan van Muijlwijk and the CAMRAS radio amateurs association based at Dwingeloo radio telescope (NL). Each live performance is made possible thanks to the collaboration of radio enthusiasts Howard Ling (UK), Bruce Halász (Brazil) and Daniel Gautschi (CH).

GAM Astronomers without Boarders http://www.opticks.info #GAM14 #TCAMRAS #OPTICKS #MoonBounce #Space #Art #Radio #Lunar #Transmission

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