Project manager; design lead; we started essentially from scratch and built exhibits that were mechanically robust, fit the original exhibit size, and clearly demonstrated the concepts.

Designed and completed two science demonstration exhibits for the Astronomy Discovery Center at Lowell Observatory on an exceptionally short timeline, 8 weeks before opening day: “Wobbling Stars” demonstrates radial velocity reflex motion and “Coronographs in Space” demonstrates coronagraph occulting disc principles.

Exhibits were designed from scratch based on rough ideas of the desired concepts to be demonstrated, using off the shelf and 3D printed components to complete them within the given timeline. Both exhibits in constant use with minimal downtime in a challenging public-facing environment with heavy usage.

The exhibits were also designed to be as physically accurate as possible: for “Coronagraphs in Space” a real directly imaged exoplanet system was used to drive the design. For “Wobbling Stars” this wasn’t possible given the size constraints and the desire to keep things both “big” and “obvious” for visitors, but the as-built was system was analyzed to show what their real-world mass ratio and separation would look like. These details were formally written and delivered to the Lowell Observatory public outreach group for use in their education efforts within the Astronomy Discovery Center.

Highlights

Images

Coronagraphs in Space Wobbing Stars