The planet Mars
1881-1882
Before we had high-tech space telescopes, French astronomer and artist Étienne Léopold Trouvelot captured the Red Planet's mystique using nothing but his eyes and a telescope. Created from an 1877 observation, this striking illustration shows Mars with swirling greenish atmospheres and mysterious geometric surface features that fueled decades of speculation about alien canals. Trouvelot is actually famous for a hilarious disaster: he accidentally introduced the invasive gypsy moth to America while trying to breed silk worms! His stunning astronomical illustrations, however, remain a beautiful bridge between science and art, proving that sometimes the best way to understand the cosmos is to draw it.
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