Where are we? Humans have asked this question for millennia, and the answer changes as we understand more about our universe. Originally, the Geocentric model placed us in the center of the universe with everything revolving around us. In 1543, Copernicus described a Heliocentric model, in which the earth revolved around the sun. More recently, we have discovered that our sun is actually one of billions of stars orbiting the center of our Milky Way galaxy. But WHERE is the Galactic Center???
The Galactic Observatory is a large-scale, interactive kinetic sculpture designed to inspire and expand people’s awareness of our place in the galaxy. The heart of the sculpture is an arrow which slowly rotates every day and always points to the center of the galaxy. The artwork follows in a long tradition of celestial sculptures that show our position in space, either from the Geocentric or Heliocentric perspective, but this is the first Galactocentric sculpture to show our location relative to the center of the galaxy, accurately and dynamically. This is an iconic world-class, innovative high-tech artwork that will be a scientific and cultural destination.
Although the arrow appears to be rotating slowly, it is actually stationary, pointing at the Galactic Center, while the earth rotates around it
The sculpture will have a circular footprint 50’ in diameter with large graceful stainless steel arches creating an inviting space to explore. The arcs all represent celestial lines that model our planet’s orbital dynamics: the Equator, the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, the Arctic Circle, the Ecliptic plane, and the Galactic plane. The framework represents a skeletal model of the earth, tilted at ~35 degrees to reflect our latitude. The axis is oriented toward the Polaris, the North Star. The public is invited to wander inside the structure and gaze upward into the heavens. Suspended near the top of the large arching framework is a smaller spherical celestial model, 10’ in diameter. Inside this sits an arrow which rotates slowly to point at the Galactic center. The arrow is embedded in a spiral framework illustrating the Milky Way galaxy, and at the center of the spiral will be a perfectly black sphere representing the black hole at the Galactic center.
The “Black Hole” in the center will be coated with Singularity Black, an incredibly dark nanomaterial
The sculpture touches on many aspects of our cosmic journey, one of the most important of which is the Summer Solstice. On the longest day of the year – at the Solstice – the sun will shine through a set of lenses carefully aligned so that a dot of sunlight is focused on the ground at the very center of the sculpture. Set in the ground inside the sculpture will be a large stone spiral, representing the Milky Way. In an outer arm of the spiral will be a turquoise disc, representing the earth. At the exact moment of the Solstice, the sunlight will be focused to illuminate the earth, serving as a very special “You are Here” pointer indicating our location in the galaxy. This is a tribute to ancient astronomers of New Mexico and the Chaco Canyon Sun Dagger, a rock spiral carved ~1000 years ago that is sliced by the sun at the Summer Solstice. The Galactic Observatory will become a pilgrimage destination, a cultural focal point, an iconic high-tech installation that expands our sense of scale and echoes our eternal fascination with our place in the heavens.
We’re forming a team of creative partners and supporters, and seeking the ideal site for the Galactic Observatory. Please join our group on MeWe if you’re interested in collaborating.
