A lot of the data that comes from Space can be called art. Though if you’ve ever seen raw Astronomical data, it’s anything but. It takes a talented artist to bring out the detail in the photo and make it truly beautiful! In the case of large missions like the Cassini Spacecraft, there are a plethora of scientists and artists alike making the most of the data.
Especially with Cassini, I always get the feeling it’s a professional photographer taking the photos. The lighting, composition, and other photographic buzzwords are all exceptional, as if it was staged by someone saying ‘okay now you shift to the right a bit.’
This little video of the transit of Saturn’s Moon Rhea is as poetic as it gets.
I would say most of the images I see are artful in some regard, but go take a look at some raw astrophotography data and see how much the artist can really make a difference. I’ve tried my hand at tweaking space photos, and I promise it is not easy.