Bright green waves of laser light will ripple across the Hayden Sphere in the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space starting Monday, November 14, to illustrate how the Hubble Space Telescope analyzes distant galaxies, quasars, and other celestial objects in the early universe. The public art installation, From the Distant Past, will pulse from 5 to 11 pm every day until Sunday, November 27, showcasing a unique convergence of science and art. The installation is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration, which opens to the public on Saturday, November 19.
Created by German artist Tim Otto Roth in collaboration with astronomer Bob Fosbury, the former head of the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, the installation resembles the squiggly line of an electrocardiogram. Behind the luminous pattern is a message: Astronomical telescopes produce more than just beautiful pictures of the sky.
From the Distant Past is based on data captured by Hubble's spectrometers, advanced instruments that act like prisms, separating light from the cosmos into its constituent colors. This provides a spectrum "fingerprint" of the object being observed, which, once decoded, tells scientists about its temperature, chemical composition, and motion, all key indicators in understanding the development and age of the universe. Hubble's spectrometers are especially skilled at hunting for black holes, volumes of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.
"Hubble is all about looking long ago and far away," said Michael Shara, a curator in the Museum's Department of Astrophysics who is part of a research team that has received one of the largest-ever award of observing time on the Hubble-130 orbits, or approximately 210 hours a year-three times. Astronomers from all over the world compete for observing time on the Hubble each year; the Space Telescope Science Institute selects proposals for a total of 3,000 orbits of observing time annually.
"Hubble is like a time machine, letting us peek at the universe as it was 10 billion years ago," said Shara, who is also the curator of Beyond Planet Earth. "The spectrum of light Hubble collects from these early galaxies shows us details that are otherwise invisible-like what their stars are made of, how fast they're moving, and how they are evolving."
First shown last year in Venice, Italy, to mark Hubble's 20-year-run, the installation rings in Beyond Planet Earth, which will launch visitors into the exciting future of space exploration in our solar system and beyond. The laser installation can be best viewed from 81st Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.
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The Commonality between science and art is beauty," Shara said. "There's great beauty in the natural world, both aesthetically and in the intricate details of how it works. This installation is a very compelling way to convey the beauty of science to the public."
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From the Distant Past is funded by the Space Telescope Science Institute and the European Space Agency.
The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869, is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses 45 permanent exhibition halls and galleries for temporary exhibitions, the Rose Center for Earth and Space with the Hayden Planetarium, state-of-the-art research laboratories and five active research divisions that support more than 200 scientists in addition to one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere and a
Permanent Collection of more than 32 million specimens and cultural artifacts. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, it is the first American museum to grant the Ph.D. degree. In 2012, the Museum will begin offering a pilot Master of Arts in Teaching with a specialization in earth science. Approximately 5 million visitors from around the world came to the Museum last year, and its exhibitions and Space Shows can be seen in venues on five continents. The Museum's website and growing collection of apps for mobile devices extend its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond its walls. Visit amnh.org for more information.
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