By this point the question is a physical one: how big, and in what. Dark astronomy images don't behave like most wall art, because the size and the frame decide how much of the black reads as picture and how much reads as gap. These pages take size, finish and resolution in turn, with the numbers, not a mood.
Which guide answers which question
| Page | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Canvas, framed print or poster | Which of the three finishes suits a room, a budget or a gift |
| Choosing a moon phase print | How to check the phases run in the right sequence before you buy |
| What DPI a photo needs | The 300 and 140 dpi grades, and what they cannot detect |
| The right size for a wall | A3, A2, 50 x 70 or 70 x 100 cm, measured against the wall |
| The 2/3 rule | How wide art should be over a sofa, a bed or a sideboard |
| Can wall art be too big? | When a print crowds its wall, alcoves and chimney breasts included |
| Canvas: framed or bare | Bare stretched canvas against a float frame |
| Canvas prints | The astronomy plates on stretched canvas |
| Framed prints | Framed paper at A3 and A2, and framed canvas |
| Starting an astronomy wall | The five genres of astronomy art, and which ones sit well together |
Settle the finish first
If the format is still open, read the comparison before anything else. A poster is the print alone, with no frame and no glass, so it costs least. A framed print comes crisp and ready to hang. Canvas has no glass in front of it and suits a big, atmospheric image.
Our canvas is printed with pigment inks and stretched 2 cm deep over FSC-certified wooden bars. Framed paper is 250 gsm uncoated off-white archival stock in a slim black or natural wood moulding. Whether a canvas wants a frame at all has its own short answer, with a side view of the float frame drawn to scale.
Then the size
Three short answers deal with size, and they work best read in turn. The perfect-size page starts from the wall and gives a size for each job: A3 for a desk or shelf, A2 above most sofas and beds, and the two largest sizes when the piece should be the first thing seen. The 2/3 rule turns that into a figure, about 130 cm of art over a 200 cm sofa. The too-big page covers the opposite mistake: on a 100 cm chimney breast, a 50 x 70 cm print hung landscape is about the limit.
Photographs and a first wall
For a photograph of your own, the DPI guide explains the grades our uploader gives each size: 300 dpi or more is excellent, 140 up to 300 is acceptable, and under 140 the size is blocked. It also names what a grade cannot catch, such as missed focus or motion blur. The moon phase guide gives the one test any phase print must pass: the shapes have to follow the real cycle. And if this is the first astronomy piece in the house, the beginner's guide sorts the field into deep space, the Solar System, the Moon, retro travel posters and spacecraft drawings, so that two prints chosen for one wall belong together.
Next: the collection
The stage that follows this one is the collection: Subject by subject: the Moon, the planets, galaxies, nebulae, blueprints and the retro travel posters.
Written by Craig Fearn, Aphelion Prints. Last updated .