Daily Image
17-02-2012
A renewed Melkwegpad
| Submitter: | Roy Smits & Femke Boekhorst |
| Description: | For several decades the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope has been accompanied by a 3-km path showing our Solar-system in a proper scale. Though misleadingly labelled as "Melkwegpad" (Milky-Way path) it has revealed to many a tourist the actual relative distances and sizes of all the planets and our Sun, a concept distorted by many textbooks and movies. The path also contains a large number of displays, showing even more mind-opening astronomy. Sadly, the Melkwegpad has degraded over the years, which is why ASTRON has decided to give the path a decent clean-up and at the same time update the number of listed planets from 9 to 8. The pictures show some of the shiny and clean boards and displays after a paint job and new glass. For comparison two "before" images are added, which can easily be spotted. As you can also spot, the snow did not stop people's curiosity for knowledge. For those who find themselves in the neighborhood: do enjoy this brief walk and it's wonders! Many thanks to Jan Idserda, Fritz Moller, Sjouke Kuindersma and Van de Belt Schilderwerken for their efforts! |
| Copyright: | Roy Smits |
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