August 28, 2003
Art!
Having seen it in person, I can pronounce that Sheba's Large Scale Crystal is extremely cool! It turns out that the data upon which it is based is a mass distribution, so the individual galaxies are basically sized by their mass. Additionally, it sounds like the galaxies are blown up so that they will actually be visible at the scale of the piece. Still, it is amazing.
Probably the best news, though, is that Sheba is working on using a newer process that will produce much smaller fractures. This will make both this piece and the Galaxy Crystal even more cool than they currently are. Sheba is also trying to get data for the Large Scale Crystal that involves the physical locations and orientations of the galaxies, rather than a simple mass distribution. That data, though, is more difficult to come by. (If you know, or you know someone who knows, how to come up with it, please let her know.)