The Lethbridge Astronomy Society, along with several local partners, have teamed up to create a new scale model of the solar system.
It is only the second of its kind in Canada.
According to the organization, it is almost impossible to really understand the size and magnitude of our solar system, so they decided to reduce it.
“It’s one of the biggest models like this in the world, but the best part is that it’s still small enough to be able to see it all in one day quite easily,” said company president Tom Anderson.
The downtown clock tower was used as the initial ladder for the model and begins to move from there, using locations across Lethbridge and the area to house the models:
- The sun on the clock tower of the downtown post office;
- Mercury at the main branch of the Lethbridge Public Library;
- Venus in the Old Palace of Justice;
- Earth and moon in the downtown fire station;
- Mars at the Galt Museum and Archives;
- Jupiter at the University of Lethbridge Science Commons Building;
- Saturn at Chinook High School;
- Uranus at Broxburn Vegetables & Café; i
- Neptune in Park Lake Provincial Park.
The plates on each site give information about the planets with a QR code that you can scan to get even deeper into the cosmos.
“I think the interest is out there, and I think people will want to come here and see this model because the next closest one is in Quebec,” Anderson said.
“The others are mostly in Europe and the US”
The model was presented at Chinook Regional High School.
Reid Decillia, a student at the school, was asked by the Astronomical Society and the School Division to make a video highlighting the model.
“It was really fun visiting the different places and seeing areas of Lethbridge that I wouldn’t normally visit,” Decillia told CTV News.
“Areas like Broxburn or just a random trip to Park Lake on a Tuesday.”
The solar system model cost more than $ 40,000.
The money comes from funding from the Lethbridge Community Foundation and Southwest Alberta, TELUS, Richardson Oilseed, the U of L, Lethbridge School Division and Ward Bros. Construction.
The initial idea came up in 2004, but it took about 15 years to get started.
Once it received funding in 2019, it took more than two years to complete.
In total, the model extends over 20 kilometers with a scale ratio of 1: 253 million.
The mayor hopes it will help attract visitors to the city.
“It’s exciting, it’s a tourism issue,” said Blaine Hyggen, mayor of Lethbridge.
“That’s just another thing about tourism that we can put in our tourism toolbox when you come to Lethbridge. So that’s exciting.”
For more information, visit the Lethbridge Astronomy Society website.