Artwork by Tim Hawkinson for the “Moons” exhibition | Williamson Gallery

MOONS, an exhibition pondering wonder, worlds and orbiting mysteries, opens July 19, with a reception at the Williamson Gallery. The exhibition opens right in the middle of Pasadena’s AstroFest, which celebrates the city as the center of space research and study. Nothing says space research more than COSPAR, an organization created in 1958 to promote international cooperation in the pursuit of scientific research in space, which is holding its annual gathering in Pasadena this year.

Between MOONS, AstroFest and COSPAR, Pasadena is earning its reputation as the City of Astronomy. It truly is the place for space.

“Celestial bodies tethered by orbital physics to our solar system’s planets, commonly known as moons, comprise a consortium of enticing worlds that are rocky, wet, icy, cratered, hot, cold, and puzzling, some of whose veneers are textured with mountains, lakes, concealed oceans, valleys, volcanoes, geysers, canyons and plains, and have both water and heat to fuel tantalizing speculations,” says Williamson Gallery Director and MOONS curator Stephen Nowlin. “Such objects lead us to both the poetics and the disruptions ignited by an age-old urge to ponder reality beyond the single planet in which we are cradled.”

The MOONS opening reception on Thursday, July 19 from 7 to 10 p.m. is free and open to the public.