This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
The fact that it’s a three-dimensional galaxy suspended in a glass cube should be enough to make any astro-geek drool. The structured chaos of the swirling arms is breathtaking in its grace.
But what makes this astounding? Amazing? Flabbergastizationalistic?
From the Living World website:
A laser was used to etch around 80,000 of the stars in the Milky Way, using three-dimensional data from the Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory.
That means that all those little specs etched into the glass represents a known star in our own galaxy, where it actually exists in relation to our solar system, which is in the exact center of the cube. The galaxy inside this glass cube is to scale. This is what our Milky Way would look like from, say, the Large Magellanic Cloud.
I found this quite a while ago, but it still amazes me every time I look at it. *sighs dreamily* If only I had $800; I could pet it and squeeze it and call it George.
I love tech, but don’t have as much time or money to spend on it as I’d like. I get what I need to sustain my Geek vicariously through other sources and pass it along to you.
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Edmunds Scientific has them for $80.00
http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3085058