#microscopium

Joined a 23 hour art challenge hosted by Clip Studio Paint on twitter~

It was meant to have a transparent bg, so that's under the cut <3

Microscopium

I’ll hazard a guess, but chances are you’ve not come across the constellation of Microscopium, and even if you had heard of it, chances are you know fairly little about it.

It was first coined by French navigators “Le Microscope” in 1750s, but previously had been part of the more common constellation of Sagittarius. It’s southern location also means most of us in the Northern Hemisphere probably haven’t even seen it, never mind know about it.

Famously described by the British Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore as having “nothing of interest for amateur observers“, it certainly does have a huge number of deep space objects, some quite famous ARP objects.

WIP from October 17th, 2020

Another extremely messy concept, but still one I felt like posting. I had a friend in middle school posit that I could make anything cute if I drew it. She was right, but I posit that I can personify just about anything and have it end up cute in the process instead. xD Case in point: A personified microscope. She goes by “Mica” for short, and is the partner to my WIP Telescopium design from a while back. He sees the bigger picture, while she focuses on the little details (haha, get it?).

She can turn her arms into the stage for the specimens, and do this, for when it’s One of Those Days™

Ace of Swords. From the COSMOS Tarot & Oracle Deck.

"Microscopium - Scrutiny of Enlightenment" by Monica Esquivel

Microscopium is one of the French astronomer Nicolas Lewis de Lacaille’s constellations. It represents an iconic scientific instrument: the microscope. The microscope is used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye, and its ability to magnify down to such a small scale gave mankind its first glimpse into a tiny, previously unknown, world.

The card depicts several symbols of the Age of Enlightenment. During this time, people scrutinized everything from the sciences to how society functioned. Interestingly, even the ideology of the Age of Enlightenment came under scrutiny. People argued whether or not dissecting the logic of everything was necessary to gain perspective. As it turns out, it is human nature to scrutinize, and many discoveries, revelations and theories have been born from the effort to understand.

Microscopium is a reference to everything that is intimate, detailed and in need of a closer look. With meticulous observation people are able to see how things work and the systems that hold institutions, projects, and relationships together. Microscopium symbolizes careful observation, awareness of detail, and personal introspection.

Reversed, Microscopium’s presence may indicate that one is so close to the matter that they are unable to recognize the bigger, more important picture.