# Cat On A Keyboard In Space Cat On A Keyboard In Space is a photoshopped 2006 image of a house cat sitting at a vintage ARP Odyssey synthesizer against a starry backdrop. It became a template for looping YTMND sites, image macros and video remixes, and even landed a cameo in a well-known xkcd comic. ## Overview Cat On A Keyboard In Space, also called Space Cat or Astro Cat, is a photoshopped image showing a house cat calmly perched on a vintage synthesizer keyboard floating in front of an outer-space backdrop. The keyboard is a 1972 ARP Odyssey analog synth, and the composite is credited to a hobbyist known as Andy Squirrel[1]. The picture is deadpan and absurd at the same time, a normal pet apparently giving a cosmic recital. That mix of ordinary cat and grand setting made it easy raw material for looping YTMND sites, t-shirt jokes and reaction images throughout the late 2000s[5]. ## How It Spread MatrixSynth revisited the picture on September 22nd, 2006, linking to the YTMND remix and pointing out the odd "what you see when you die" subdomain[1]. In February 2007 the YTMND site got aggregated on Digg and StumbleUpon, and on March 4th YouTube user BSDorn uploaded a video version that pulled over 100,000 views within five years[3]. The earliest Urban Dictionary entry for the term went up on September 23rd, 2007, submitted by user BDizzunn[6]. Cat On A Keyboard In Space reached a wider audience on September 29th, 2008, when Randall Munroe worked the image into the xkcd strip "Height", using it to map the relative distance of objects from Earth[4]. A Facebook page for the cat followed on May 22nd, 2009, and in February 2010 a mashup image macro captioned "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" was submitted as a SpreadShirt t-shirt design[5]. YTMND itself kept the format alive. The tag "catonakeyboardinspace" collected more than 110 pages, with another 20 filed under the shorthand "coakis", including pop-culture riffs tied to Harry Potter, LazyTown and David Bowie's "Major Tom"[2]. The image later drifted onto Tumblr under the tag "#cat on a keyboard in space" as the YTMND scene wound down[5]. ## How to Use The template typically drops the original Andy Squirrel Space ARP cat into a new scene or plot beat and lets viewers spot the incongruous animal. YTMND versions often loop the still against a signature audio bed like "Brazilian Flower" or a pop-culture soundtrack, while later remixes park the cat inside comic panels, reaction images or captioned image macros[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Cat On A Keyboard In Space? It is a 2006 photoshopped image of a house cat sitting at a 1972 ARP Odyssey synthesizer in front of an outer space background, credited to Andy Squirrel[1]. ### Where did Cat On A Keyboard In Space come from? The picture was first posted on the synthesizer blog MatrixSynth on June 13th, 2006, in a post titled "Space ARP"[1], then went viral after YTMND user napalmnabuco set it to Jean-Jacques Perrey's "Brazilian Flower" that September[2]. ### What does Cat On A Keyboard In Space mean? There is no real message. The joke is the absurd calm of an ordinary cat apparently performing a synth set in deep space, which is why it worked so well as a looping YTMND gag[5]. ### How do you use Cat On A Keyboard In Space? People paste the cat into new scenes or comics, or loop the original image with a musical track in the YTMND style, as seen in the 110+ YTMND pages tagged "catonakeyboardinspace"[2]. ### Is Cat On A Keyboard In Space still popular? It is a classic early-internet image rather than an active meme, best known today for its YTMND run and its 2008 cameo in the xkcd strip "Height"[4]. ## References 1. [https://www.matrixsynth.com/2006/06/space-arp.html]() 2. [http://whatyouseewhenyoudie.ytmnd.com/]() 3. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbTcRGpe1bg]() 4. [https://xkcd.com/482/]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cat-on-a-keyboard-in-space]() 6. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cat%20on%20a%20keyboard%20in%20space]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/cat-on-a-keyboard-in-space Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library