Festival of Planets in Brno presents new model of the Earth’s lithosphere
The annual Festival of Planets in Brno has unveiled a brand-new inflated planetary model: the Lithosphere – a vision of Earth stripped of its water. It reveals the ocean floors and shows the tectonic plates on which the continents rest.
The Festival of Planets, established in 2019, is a hugely popular annual event organized by the Brno Observatory that draws science fans from around the country and beyond. Out in the open-air, visitors can stroll among a collection of inflated celestial models with new ones appearing every year.
The Lithosphere is the latest space-themed model crafted by the Brno Observatory – a ten-meter-wide Earth mock-up without water. With the seas drained away, the ocean beds and lithospheric plates come into full view. The observatory’s team even opted for a few fabricated additions that don’t belong there.
“Of course, we always strive to present data to the public accurately,” said Jiří Dušek, director of the observatory, to Novinky.cz, “but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We present science in a playful way. That’s why we allowed ourselves a bit of creative license. At the very least, it gives visitors something to search for on the model.”
One of the fabricated details is the legendary, never-found island of Atlantis, first described by the philosopher Plato. The observatory placed it in the Atlantic, just off the African coast. You can also spot a sunken aircraft carrier on the model. Visitors are being challenged to try to discover all five of the anomalies.
The Lithosphere is flanked by two of its “sisters” from the observatory’s creative workshop: Terralona, a classic Earth model, and Temnalona, a version of Earth at night.
“This offers a unique side-by-side comparison,” Dušek explained. “Terralona represents the living Earth, Temnalona a planet where city lights, highways, and offshore oil rigs glow in the dark, represents technological Earth, and the Lithosphere reveals Earth’s hidden mysteries.”
The festival’s planetary fleet also includes models of the Moon, Mars, and the Sun.
The Festival of Planets is held from July 7–13 and again from August 4–10 in Kraví hora park.
For more info go to: www.festivalplanetbrno.cz
