Photographer Puts 189 Non-Existent Spy Satellites on Show [Spy Sats]

[Robby]

Photographer Puts 189 Non-Existent Spy Satellites on Show [Spy Sats]

"Yesterday up in the air I snapped a sat that wasn't there"— so might photographer Trevor Paglen say about his show at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum. It's a series of photos of 189 secret satellites: the ones that officially "don't exist." Dubbed The Other Night Sky the photos are time-lapse images of the snoop-sats moving through the night sky, made with a custom star-tracker. Apparently it's his attempt to draw similarities between government secrecy and Galileo's historic tangles with the Catholic church. Found with the help of an amateur astronomer, each photo is of a named spy sat, and they're quietly beautiful—if you can forget the eerie spying aspect. The show runs until September 14. [Wired]

(Via Gizmodo)

 

[Kevin]

I think there is quite a bit of difference between photographing undocumented satellites and Galileo's fight with the Catholic Church!

 

[Tim]

Maybe he wants to differentiate himself from the tin hat brigade? Have a real purpose to his work