Saturn and Other Planetary Rings

Saturn might be the most well-represented planet in science fiction art. Sure, Mars is tough competition, but it doesn't have bling.

One common way to illustrate Saturn was to showcase the planet as if seen from the surface of its largest moon, Titan. Some examples:

Here's one from Alfred Kelsner – not sure which moon it's intended to be.

Don Davis picked an interesting angle for this space illustration of the planet.

So did Dr. William K Hartmann for this 2006 illustration, “Eruption on Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, based on discoveries by Cassini spacecraft.”

Hartmann already had plenty of interesting examples of Saturn's rings under his belt, like these:

John Foster's "Saturn’s Rings in Storm"

Ron Miller's "Saturn and Supernova"

I love the astronauts exploring the rings in this illustration by Sydney Jordan.

Peter Elson has a cool close-up look at the rings as well.

There may not be a cubic foot of the Solar System that storied space artist David A Hardy hasn't covered – paid users can check out my notes on his 2001 art book biography over here for more info.

Hardy has way too many Saturn illustrations to include, but I think this one's particularly nice: "Snow on Enceladus"

Plus, here's the very first science fiction illustration Hardy published: A sphinx is found on Titan, for F&SF in 1972.

And since we're on the topic of humans discovering weird alien stuff on a Saturn moon, here's a 1982 illustration by Robert Andre.

Here's "Saturn Ring and Space Shuttle," by April Lawton.

This Bruce Pennington illustration was first used as a 1972 cover to Quest for the Future, by A. E. van Vogt. The version here is a recolored one, repurposed as a cover to Yugoslavian sci-fi mag Galaksija #8 in 1976.

This one's intriguingly mystic: Wanda Riske, "Saturn's Gate"

Andrei Sokolov depicted Soviet probes visiting Saturn in a couple vibrant illustrations.

This “astrolab” by Angus McKie operates from within the rings of Saturn, according to Spacecraft 2000 to 2100 AD, the Terran Trade Authority book where it appeared in 1978.

The shimmering orbs embedded in the planetary rings of the 1971 cover to Universe Day, by Barry N. Malzberg as K. M. O’Donnell, make it one of the most stylized depictions of Saturn in retro sci-fi covers.

In fact, I'm not even positive that this is Saturn. My evidence are those rings, as well as the fact that a few of the stories in this anthology center on Saturn's moon Titan, judging from this review on the Science Fiction Ruminations blog.

Even more stylized is Ray Feibush's skullified 1974 version, done as a cover for Isaac Asimov's The Rings of Saturn.

And of course I can't feature that one without posting Bruce Pennington's planetary skull rings, done as a 1972 cover to Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. II. More info on these two in my art book Worlds Beyond Time.

Here's another ring made out of unusual materials: A 1970 Dean Ellis cover for Deadly Litter, by James White.

Dean Ellis returned for a variation on the same theme for this illustration in Starlog #15, August 1978.

Speaking of human-made rings, the Soviet pop science magazine Tekhnika Molodezhi featured an artificial ring around an asteroid in its October 1972 issue, illustrated by V. Kalinin.

Here's a 1966 cover to Moon of Three Rings, by Andre Norton. The artist is uncredited, but might be John Schoenherr.

Here's a weird ring: David Egge's "Warped Ring Theory - Neptune from Triton" illustration, from Future Life's August 1981 issue.

Googling that title didn't help me figure out what might be causing the ring here – I can't tell if it's a reference to Einstein rings or the Alcubierre drive or something else.

This list is not exhaustive: These were all just the most interesting examples of rings, Saturn or otherwise. There are plenty more, and that's without getting into Uranus or the other gas giant with ring systems in the solar system.

Cool Links

How Lofi Girl Became a Chill Beats Empire - 404 Media

I'm a fan of the famous YouTube channel, but I'd never heard a lot of the info here – including some quotes from lofi musicians on how the channel homogenizes the genre and drives artists to avoid creative risks.

Objects from Films

This is a collection of artist Marcus Merritt's pencil drawings of mundane objects – typically retro technology – all taken from a variety of different films. Take a scroll through; it's very charming. (via Web Curios)

The Origin Story of All Comic Book Mutants - Pop Cultural Precursors

Here's a convincing theory that all the mid-60s Marvel superheroes with radiation-centric origin stories (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Hulk) were all inspired by a single article in the December 1953 issue of Mechanix Illustrated. Reserve your judgement until you get a look at the in-universe article from X-Men #14.

Music rec: Have I shown you folks the Jazz for a Bank Heist playlist yet?

Next Time: Childcraft's How and Why Library