Check out collaborations between animation students and astronomers below!

Breaking News: Stars Crash from MICA Animation on Vimeo.

We utilized 80s space aesthetics to depict the detection of Gravitational Waves following a Neutron Star collision.

We are now at a point where there have been four major detections of gravitational waves occurring at the site of large celestial impact collisions. Our group is focusing on the collision of two neutron stars and the gravitational waves detected in their wake. When the collision occurs,  large blasts fling newly formed elements, such as gold, into space. Following their wake are gravitational waves. This collision and subsequent waves are detected by analyzing data collected at FERMI and LIGO. Though this discovery is largely impactful in the scientific community, the detection of this is minute.

Animation: Sarah Lyons: Puppet Animator,
Declan McKenna: After Effects Specialist and Puppet Animator,
Leili Arai Tavallaei: Stop Motion Wax Experimental Sequence,
Rob Thompson: Voice Actor, Lillian DeHart: Voice Actor
Scientist: Roopesh Ojha and Judy Racusin

003 FETCH - Rob Thompson and Isabella Potenziani from MICA Animation on Vimeo.

While some aspects of Titan remain a mystery, we wanted to create a visualization of the terrain and life that could live there. Our goal is to share our curiosity by creating our own vision of Titan’s landscapes and creatures in a playful and lively short.

Fetch embodies our optimism when looking towards the future of interstellar exploration. In this fictional world of dogs becoming astronauts, dog-shaped space crafts, or even dog-shaped helmets, we wanted to continue asking questions about the universe and the secrets that it holds.

Animation: Rob Thompson and Isabella Potenziani
Isabella Potenziani: Stopmotion 
Rob Thompson: Sound/Music
Scientist: Conor Nixon

008 X-Ray Binaries - Zachary Combs and Stephen Perozziello from MICA Animation on Vimeo.

We are in trying to find a way to interpret the complex phenomenon of orbital modulation in a high mass x-ray binary star system stumbled into a very friendly way of thinking about stars and star systems. A person and their dog seemed to like the perfect analogy, and the UPA style fit our vision perfectly. For non-animators out there, the UPA style is how we refer to a style that came out of the 1960s in cartoons by Universal Productions of America. Shorts like Gerald Mc Boing Boing and Rooty Toot Toot and shows like Mr. Magoo heavily inspired the style and tone we strived to replicate in this short film. 

The film itself draws a connection between our X-Ray binary star system, IGR J16493-4348, and someone taking care of his dog in a few ways. We compare the accretion process of material falling to the dense object in the relationship to feeding one's dog, and stellar tides to the dog pulling the man by the leash.

Animation: Zachary Combs and Stephen Perozziello
Scientists: Joel B. Coley