Artworks, made from meteorites that landed on Earth 6,000 years ago, are now on show in the museum’s Cosmos & Culture and Measuring Time galleries
Created by artist Matthew Luck Galpin using his blacksmith skills – heating, hammering, grinding and polishing – the mirrors are made from iron meteorites that fell in Northern Argentina approximately 6,000 years ago.
The impact was witnessed by the local people, in a place now called The Field of Heaven or Campo Del Cielo. The meteorites fell to Earth after an unimaginable journey through heat and cold, light and darkness. The artist’s making process echoes the formation of the planets, pulled together by heat, gravity and rotation, continuing the meteorites’ journey.
Matthew Luck Galpin said, “Working these iron meteorites and mirroring their trajectory, I feel closer to belonging to their journey through space and time, reaching a point of reflection of our part in it all. I have long been inspired by astronomy and cosmology and am delighted to be exhibiting this work here at the Science Museum amongst the significant and amazing objects and instruments that were invented and designed to help us explore and understand the universe over many centuries.”
The Anvilled Stars are on display at the Science Museum until 30 October 2011.