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The planet Uranus – located in Bridgewater as part of the Maine Solar System model, which extends from the University of Maine at Presque Isle to Topsfield – will soon be undergoing repairs.
NEAR ISLE, Maine – The planet Uranus – located in Bridgewater as part of the Maine Solar System model, which extends from the University of Maine at Presque Isle to Topsfield – will soon be undergoing repairs.
The planet will be "out of orbit" during the winter, while students in Robert Collins' car body class at Northern Maine Community College will return to the surface.
This will be the third planet to be renovated in the last 18 months. Jupiter and Neptune were out of orbit last winter. The solar system model of Maine is the largest model of the solar system of the Americas. It was built by the northern Maine community, with the participation of many local people and businesses.
"The NMCC is pleased to continue working with companies, agencies and educational institutions to maintain this outstanding educational model and tourism attraction," said Dr. Dottie Martin, Dean of Development and University Relations. .
With the help of NMCC, the planet should have a much longer lifespan.
"The fiberglass of the original big planets seems to have a life expectancy of 15 years," said Kevin McCartney, professor at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and coordinator of the Solar System Project. "The second generation will have a thicker fiberglass and will use fiberglass paints that we hope will last longer."
Other work is in progress for the model. During the winter, McCartney hopes to find a community partner to create positions for two other dwarf planets, Houmea and Makemake, to be installed in Lille and Madawaska. The construction will include the small celestial objects – less than 1/4 inch – themselves, and will be the first part of the model to be exposed north of the sun at Presque Isle, rightly known as the "Star City". .
Sun updates can also be in the works. The current sun is located in Folsom Hall and is the only object of the model to be displayed in two dimensions, painted in the corridors of the three-story building. The university is currently working on creating a three-dimensional representation of the sun outside Folsom Hall.
"The most common question asked by visitors to the University of Maine on the Presque Isle campus about the Maine solar system model is," Where is the sun? McCartney said. "It would be wonderful to have a very visible structure located on the outside for easy access."
An expanded and improved brochure for the Maine Solar System Model is also in preparation. McCartney said that a recent review of Saturn's upper surface with the help of a drone shows that the planet is weathering well, although a refurbishment is planned In the coming years.
The Maine solar system model was built from 1999 to 2003, with the addition of dwarf planets in 2008. Established by the University of Maine at Presque Isle, the North Maine Science Museum and the community of northern Maine, it is the largest solar system model in the Western Hemisphere, with both the diameter of the planet and the distance between the sun and the scale of a mile equal to one unit astronomical (AU, the distance between the sun and the earth). The model consists of a sun 50 feet in diameter and stretches 95 kilometers from the dwarf planet Eris, which is about one inch in diameter, to Topsfield.
For more information on the Maine Solar System Model, contact the UMPI Media and Community Relations Office at (207) 768-9452 or [email protected].
Submitted by the University of Maine's Media and Community Relations Office in Presque Isle.
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