Why are the paths of our cosmic explorations pretty?

[Trying2Learn]

TL;DR Summary: Why are the paths of our cosmic explorations, pretty?

OK, so I ask a lot of stupid questions. Here's another.

Why is this picture, below, pretty?

(They are the paths of all our cosmic explorations.)

Now, I get the sine, cosine, circles, gravitational attraction, escape velocity... all that comes into play.

But the curves are so pretty to look at -- the continuity, levels of smoothness, and so on.

Especially, the one's around Mars. What is it that makes it so satisfying to look at? Does my mind perceive the infinite smoothness?

Or is the gummie I ate last night? This is no joke. Why is this pretty?

 

[Chestermiller]

Ask Hunter Biden, famous artist.

 

[phinds]

Why are the paths of our cosmic explorations, pretty?

I seriously doubt that everyone would find it pretty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If YOU think it's pretty, then it is. For YOU.

I don't find your image pretty but rather, too busy.

 

[Baluncore]

But the curves are so pretty to look at -- the continuity, levels of smoothness, and so on.

There are no straight lines. There are no sudden changes in curvature
Take a look at:
Bézier curves; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bézier_curve
B-Splines; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-spline

 

[Devin-M]

It was done by an artist and maybe it looked pretty to them, and maybe your mind works similarly, so it looks pretty to you.

The swirls around the planets on the left side gives some visual balance with the objects on the right side.

https://wikieducator.org/Artistic_principles/Visual_balance

 

[Hill]

It looks pretty to some simply because colors on black background often look pretty.

 

[Devin-M]

It looks pretty to some simply because colors on black background often look pretty.

This takes me back to first grade art class. We covered construction paper with crayon colorings, then painted over with matte black paint. The next task was to “scratch” designs in the black paint, revealing the colors underneath.

 

[Nik_2213]

Uh, I don't find it pretty: Its sorry mix of scales grates like biting into sour fruit...

 

[Devin-M]

Uh, I don't find it pretty: Its sorry mix of scales grates like biting into sour fruit...

I suspect the muted tones of— & yet numerous swirls around the moon were specifically intended by the artist to visually balance the commanding presence of Jupiter accompanied by its relatively modest quantity of Jovian visitations.

 

[DaveC426913]

It's pretty because the artist specializes in knowing what his market finds pretty. He has designed it - with a great deal of time, effort and creativity - to meet that goal.

It's not like this is an accurate physical represention of the data. There's a bunch of real-world data points in the image, yes, but it is very heavily fictionalized (all the curves, colours and geometrics) for the sole purpose of making it pretty.

 

[berkeman]

Or is the gummie I ate last night? This is no joke. Why is this pretty?

That drawing is not pretty to me.

This is pretty/beautiful:

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201018.html

 

[pinball1970]

TL;DR Summary: Why are the paths of our cosmic explorations, pretty?

OK, so I ask a lot of stupid questions. Here's another.

Why is this picture, below, pretty?

(They are the paths of all our cosmic explorations.)

Now, I get the sine, cosine, circles, gravitational attraction, escape velocity... all that comes into play.

But the curves are so pretty to look at -- the continuity, levels of smoothness, and so on.

Especially, the one's around Mars. What is it that makes it so satisfying to look at? Does my mind perceive the infinite smoothness?

Or is the gummie I ate last night? This is no joke. Why is this pretty?

View attachment 337589

It looks pretty cool in a swirly sort of a way. Van Gogh did something similar, that was pretty.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night

 

[Sara Schmidt]

All the same, such drawings are specific and often their preference depends on the mood of the observer

 

[Devin-M]

If someone asks 1000 people whether an image is beautiful or ugly, what makes it sway in 1 direction?

 

[DaveC426913]

If someone asks 1000 people whether an image is beautiful or ugly, what makes it sway in 1 direction?

? 'sway' seems to be suggesting that they influence each other. Was that your intent?

 

[Mondayman]

It's just that demon life has got you in its sway

 

[Rive]

Ask Hunter Biden, famous artist.

That's the one.
A similar theme from a less famous source:

It's not the 'paths of our cosmic explorations' what's pretty