The planetarium, after the last daytime show
Late Light
Every light in the night sky is late. The Moon's is a second old. The farthest you can see with your own eyes is older than people. Once the building empties, the dome goes dark, the seats recline, and we go out to meet it.
Scroll to leave Earth
01 1.3 light-seconds
The Moon
The one place people have stood that wasn't Earth. The light you see when you look up at it left 1.3 seconds ago. Wave, and the wave takes 2.6 seconds to come back.
02 12 light-minutes
Mars
Depending on where the two planets are in their orbits, Mars is anywhere from three to twenty-two light-minutes away. Tonight we take the average. A hello sent from here goes unanswered for almost half an hour.
03 43 light-minutes
Jupiter
Larger than every other planet put together. Its bands are weather, and its red spot is a storm wider than Earth that has been blowing for as long as anyone has had a telescope to watch it.
04 80 light-minutes
Saturn
The rings are mostly water ice, some pieces the size of dust, some the size of houses, and the whole sheet is thinner than the width of this room. From here the Sun is a bright star. It's getting cold.
05 18 light-hours
The edge of the Sun's wind
Out here the Sun's breath finally stalls against the thin wind between the stars. Two spacecraft have crossed this line, both launched in 1977, both still faintly calling home. Past it, nothing we've built has ever been.
06 4.2 light-years
Proxima Centauri
The nearest star that isn't ours: a small, red, flaring thing, too dim to see without help. Its light leaves tonight and arrives at the dome in four years and three months. Everything before this was the front step.
07 2.5 million light-years
Andromeda
The farthest thing you can see with your own eyes, a smudge on a dark hill. Its light set out before there was anyone on Earth to look up. It has been on its way the whole time, and it lands tonight, on you, in a quiet room with the lights off.
Home · 0 light-seconds
The lights come up
That was the route. Each stop is a real distance, drawn to be felt rather than measured, and the narration in the room goes further than this page can.
- When
- Late. After the day's final show, once the building has gone quiet and your eyes have time to adjust.
- Where
- Under the dome, in the reclining seats. Phones go dark at the door and stay that way.
- What to bring
- Someone you want to be quiet next to. A layer, because we keep the room cool for Saturn.