Our Neighborhood, 35,000 Lightyears to the Inch

The Galaxy Crystal is a cosmic paperweight: an optically perfect glass block 3 1/2" square by 1 3/4" deep, laser etched with a 3D model of the Milky Way.

Data for this sculpture comes from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  We can't see all of our own galaxy – the core blocks our view of the other side – but this is a well-researched model of how we think it must be.  The bright stars along the spiral arms, the delicate disk, and the strongly barred core are drawn here as they look from intergalactic space. 

Art, Science and Technology

Bathsheba Grossman is an internationally collected artist, working with new and old technology to make sculptures in many materials.  Equally at home with modeling clay and stereolithographic prototyping, she brings science and art together beautifully.

In this piece, a focused laser beam draws the thousands of "stars".  Each pulse of the beam passes freely through the glass except at its focal point, where the concentrated energy causes a tiny fracture.  These microscopic sparkles catch the light, forming a permanent design floating inside the crystal.