Reunion-Centric Solar System
Texas has a unique opporitunity for a scientifically educational art installation along its I‑35E/I‑35 corridor from Dallas to Laredo.
Using the globe on top of Reunion Tower in Dallas as a 'Sun' for both position and scale, the project would install a road sign for each planet
the appropriate distance from the tower, with a picture of the planet, its name, and its distance from the Sun in Astronomical Units (AU).
The project need not be affiliated with Reunion Tower in any way. The tower is referenced only to establish the scale,
approximately 0.0000000258491, and as the origin from which to measure all distances.
Each planet would get a road sign. The position of the sign along I‑35E/I‑35 would be determined by applying this scale to the minimum
and maximum orbital radius of the planet, and measuring south from the tower. For example, Earth's orbit at this scale would place it
2.363 to 2.443 miles from the tower. Therefore, Earth's road sign would be on I‑35E approximately at the South Marsalis Avenue bridge
(near the Dallas Zoo). The road sign would have a pictorial representation of the Earth at this same scale, just over 1 foot
in diameter. Below the picture would be the words "Earth 1 AU" in guide-sign format.
Each planet would get a similar sign. The size of each sign would vary depending on the size of the planet and/or lettering requirements.
The Earth's sign is the smallest at 13 x 14.5 feet in size (most are near this size), and Saturn's is largest at 23 x 21 feet.
There are several stretch goals for this art project:
- Include signs for the major dwarf-planets (we still love you, Pluto).
- Include signs for the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft (signs placed almost in Laredo, and moving south 8 miles a year).
- Include a similar installation along the I‑30 corridor west of Dallas.
- Include signs for both directions of the interstate.
- Super-Stretch: Include a sign for the Oort Cloud (so far away its sign must be placed on the Moon).
Texas is uniquely suited to this project based on several factors:
- Texas has an easily recognizable spherical landmark, the globe atop the Reunion Tower in Dallas.
- This landmark's general size and position is well-known to the public, providing an easy-to-imagine reference for the size of the Sun and the distances to the planets in this scale model.
- This landmark is of a size that gives the project a feasable scale. If the scale was much smaller the rocky planets would be undecernably tiny on their signs. Much larger and the signs for the gas-giants would be prohibitively huge (For example, an Epcot-Centric Saturn sign would be 88.5 x 56 feet in size).
- This spherical landmark is lighted, making it a perfect analog for a star.
- Texas is large enough to fit all of the signs within its borders. An Epcot-Centric project along I‑95 north from Orlando would put Uranus in Georgia , Neptune and Pluto in South Carolina, Voyager 2 in Maine, and Voyager 1 in New Brunswick, Canada.
- Texas has a rich history in this country's space programs, with NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center in Houston, and commercial development and launching in-state by several private companies such as SpaceX.