After spending part of the summer “out of orbit” for replacement and painting, the University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to announce that Jupiter’s moon Io is returning to its spot with three other moons in the Maine Solar System Model.
The model, which stretches almost 160 miles along U.S. Route 1 from Madawaska to Topsfield, Maine, is the largest scale model of the solar system in the western hemisphere. It features nine planets (including Pluto, which was a planet when the model was first established), five dwarf planets (including Pluto, based on its current status and present location closer to the Sun), and seven associated large moons at Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto.
“I am now calling the Maine Solar System Model the largest complete solar system model in the world. There is a larger-scaled model in Sweden, with a 360-foot diameter sun, but does not include a Saturn,” Dr. Kevin McCartney, UMPI Professor Emeritus of Geology who has overseen the model since its inception in 1999, said.
In recent years, the model’s largest planets, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, and Saturn, have been refurbished, and two dwarf planets added. Minor improvements to the model continue. McCartney said that the work on Io has been slated for some time but the refurbishment of larger planets and the construction of UMPI’s new sun model, located outside Preble Hall, took priority.
Io is the smallest of the four “Galilean” moons—along with Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—that orbit Jupiter in the solar system. Io is the Galilean moon closest to Jupiter. At a scale diameter of 1.6 inches, the Maine Solar System Model’s version of Io consists of a golf ball covered by fiberglass, which was fabricated at Beaulieu’s Garage & Auto Body Shop in Caribou and painted by Limestone High School students in 2002.
Under the guidance of their art teacher Jessica Goodwin, three Caribou High School students—Claire Brissette, Izzy Goodwin, and Willow Rancourt—painted Io. With the help of Caribou Technology Center instructor Stacey Turner, the students airbrushed the moon to give it a more realistic appearance.
The project took on a rather personal meaning for Jessica Goodwin. As a Limestone High School student, she was part of the original group of students from four local schools that helped paint the planets now featured in the model. Goodwin and classmates painted Jupiter a year before the model officially opened in 2003. More than two decades later, her daughter Izzy helped paint and airbrush Io.
“I have always loved driving by the planet that I helped paint and would always tell whoever I was with that I had helped to create it. Having my students, including my daughter, work on a project that I also worked on many years ago was truly a full-circle moment,” Goodwin said. “It was rewarding to watch them learn a new skill while making their own artistic choices to bring Io to life.”
Maine Potato Growers in Presque Isle took down and stored the 14-foot metal post on which Io sits while the moon work was underway. Io will be reinstated 15 feet from the planet Jupiter. The remaining Galilean moons are located south of Jupiter at the appropriate scale distance as the celestial bodies in the real solar system.
Io’s re-entrance comes during a busy time for the Maine Solar System Model. Last summer, McCartney worked with community members to install two new dwarf planets—Haumea and Makemake—in Aroostook’s St. John Valley region. Haumea is now located across the street from the Musee Culturel du Mont-Carmel in Lille and Makemake can be seen in front of Madawaska Public Library. Both dwarf planets were fashioned out of steel ball bearings and each is close to the size of a marble.
Another addition this summer involves flower barrels placed around the perimeter of the three-dimensional sun, which, at 23-feet-tall, is the model’s largest object. Students at SAD 1’s School Farm grew and donated the flower barrels for the site, and Presque Isle resident Leo Freeman helped McCartney to place them. But what flower could be the most fitting for the location? Sunflowers, of course.
Established by UMPI and the northern Maine community, the Maine Solar System Model was built entirely by volunteers, with all materials and labor donated. This larger-than-life community project involved a consortium of 12 schools and more than 700 businesses and individuals throughout northern Maine. Dedicated in 2003, this three-dimensional model is presented at a scale of one mile equaling one astronomic unit (AU). One AU is the distance from the Earth to the sun, or 93,000,000 miles, meaning a person traveling at seven miles an hour alongside the model would be moving at the speed of light. The Maine Solar System Model combines the fun of a scavenger hunt with a science education experience like no other—the chance to witness the sheer expanse of the solar system by driving it mile by mile. To learn more, visit www.mainesolarsystem.com.