Cassini Trajectory
This space-inspired sculpture features an innovative MOVA globe that, when exposed to ambient lightening, activates hidden solar cells that rotate the sphere on its axis. The antique map depicts the three voyages taken by Captain James Cook, in a design created by 18th century astronomer Giovanni Cassini. A red ecliptic line is also present, showing the sun's position each day of the year. Orbiting around the MOVA globe is a system of marble planets, alondside a plot line map of the Cassini Spacecraft's interplanetary flight path, and a graphic of Sir Isaac Newton's universal law of gravitation. A pocket telescope points earthward, observing the galactic activities from afar.
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Born in 1625 in Perinaldo, Republic of Genoa, astronomer Giovanni Maria Cassini is associated with a number of scientific discoveries and projects; he was the first to make successful measurements of longitude, the first to observe four of Saturn's moons, and is credited with the discoverey of the Cassini Division in the rings of Saturn in 1675. For this reason, the Cassini spacecraft that launched in 1997 was named after him. Orbiting Saturn for 20 years before its guided vaporization into Saturn's rings in 2017, the Cassini spacecraft provided much of what we know today about the Saturnian system.
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Price varies depending upon materials and size.