The cover of Blackstar. (Photo: Joseph.bleh/CC BY-SA 4.0)
The cover of David Bowie’s last album, Blackstar, has a simple design: a five-point star cut into the album cover, black on black. But as fans recently discovered, there’s a secret element to the design. Under the right circumstances, the black interior of the star transforms into a shining starscape from space.
The first example of this phenomenon came from a fan who left the album in direct sunlight and came back to see the stars shining through. It seemed magical—a field of glowing stars coaxed out by the sun, that faded with the light.
The cover with light shining through. (Photo: Imgur)
Further investigation by fans revealed that the mechanism was a little bit simpler—shine a strong light, from any source, through the cover, and the light shines through the starscape on the interior, revealing the same pattern on the exterior of the cover.
There’s some debate about whether this design was intentional or not, but we’re going to come down on the side of yes. It’s too haunting not to be.
Bonus finds: Bones from ancient bison that were 8 feet tall at the shoulder, a new Peru geoglyph
Every day, we highlight one newly found object, curiosity or wonder. Discover something amazing? Tell us about it! Send your finds to sarah.laskow@atlasobscura.com.