Serious fun facts
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away... Or was it? Today let's stay in our own galaxy, also known as the Milky Way. Here too the distances are long. Although it is actually easier to take a picture of a galaxy far away than of our own galaxy, which we can only observe from within. The motif of the LEGO set is therefore a fiction based on scientific knowledge; we will never see an image of our own galaxy. Unless one day we unravel the secret of wormholes or encounter a creature called Q.
Even in Einstein's day, it was believed that the stars of our Milky Way, visible in the milky band of the night sky, represented the entire universe. Until it was discovered that one or two faint spots are their own galaxy and that space is considerably more expansive than previously thought. It is currently believed that there are one trillion (a 1 with twelve zeros) galaxies. 'Far, far away…' applies to most of them.
Back to ours. We are in a spiral galaxy. This is disc-shaped and looks like a spiral. This was made more precise in the 1990s (not so long ago): it is now believed that there is a barred spiral galaxy with a relatively straight band of bright stars in the center (the 'bar'). The spiral arms then extend from this. Its age is estimated at about 13 billion years. This makes it a fairly old galaxy, only slightly younger than the universe itself.
The Milky Way is home to an average of 250 billion stars, i.e. suns that look more or less like ours. Estimates range from 100 to 400 billion, but what's a few hundred billion or not? Its diameter is 100,000 light years. A light year is the distance light travels in one year and is 9.5 trillion kilometers (there it is again, the number with twelve zeros). To represent this monster in a mosaic-like image requires the smallest scale ever used in a LEGO set: 1:1,892,160,000,000,000,000,000 (i.e.: 1 in 1.9 trillion). Yes! File! One LEGO north alignment corresponds to a distance of 15 quadrillion kilometers or 1600 light years.
We, the Earth in our solar system, are located in a spiral arm, specifically called the Orion arm. It's pretty boring here, at least astronomically speaking. No black holes or gigantic stars nearby to die as supernovas and drag us into cosmic death. Good for us. It is located about 25,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way, home to a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A*. And of course we revolve around the center. It takes us 230 million years to complete one revolution, which is called a galactic year.
The size of our solar system is not precisely defined. The boundaries are blurring here. For the following consideration, we will assume 120 AU (AU = astronomical unit = distance from the Earth to the Sun = 150 million kilometers), which is where the boundary lies between the heliosphere (effective region of the solar wind) and the interstellar medium ( everything that lies between the stars). The model depicts “we” wearing a small, brightly colored crown hat, next to a “You are here” sign. As you can easily imagine, this is anything but to scale. If LEGO had been more precise here, the crown would have a diameter of 0.00000095 centimeters or 9.5 nanometers. Slightly smaller than a small virus, but larger than the structure size of microchips. Actually reason enough for a new element. With a small mold you could have covered all the crowns of all the Milky Way sets in one go. So it cannot be due to the costs.
Last but not least: why is it actually called the Milky Way? We owe that to Greek mythology. There, Hermes (the god, not the parcel deliverer) is said to have placed the newborn Heracles on the chest of the sleeping goddess Hera. When she woke up, she pushed the sucking baby away and her milk splashed into the air. It is not written why no one could clean up the mess...
Important information
447 kcal
Fat: 16 g
of which saturated fatty acids: 7.5 g
Carbohydrates: 71 g
of which sugar: 63 g
Protein: 3.8 g
Oops, that was the wrong key data. These are the correct ones:
Theme: LEGO art
3091 parts
Recommended retail price 199.99 euros
0 minifigures
Released on April 26, 2024
To the building instructions 🗺
In the 2TTOYS online shop
The structure consists of 31 sections, which are divided into the six instruction booklets mentioned above. The first set of instructions is used to build the black frame into which individual mosaic strands are placed. These are assembled according to instructions two to five and each consist of three vertically connected base plates. All six can be built independently of each other. The work can therefore be divided over a larger team.
The plates are connected using Technic pins and additional 2x6 plates are attached. Two different colors indicate a horizontal or vertical orientation.
The plates are also stabilized with 2 Technic axes
Is there life out there?
The structure itself is certainly more varied than a mosaic consisting solely of round tiles or 1×1 panels. Larger stones are also used. However, a certain amount of endurance is required, especially if you are going solo, which requires twelve hours. As is not unusual with LEGO ART, a soundtrack is offered in English, which can be accessed via a QR code. I listened in briefly (a panel of experts discussing topics related to the Milky Way), but it's less my case. I have themed, relaxing streaming entertainment. This time: Scrubs – The Beginners. After all, it also takes place in the Milky Way...
The strange thing, and I will come back to this later, is that the elements used in the construction actually feel. Windows, minifigure helmets, carrots, hairbrushes, plant stems, whisks, flags, leaves and flowers, to name a few. This doesn't fit the motif at all and seems... somehow inappropriate. In this regard, there was a degree of skepticism during construction as to whether a coherent image would ultimately emerge.
When the model is ready
The finished artwork is approximately 65cm wide and 40cm high. The frame itself is 3.5 cm deep. The highest points in the center look a little further out.
Special components are assigned to some prominent points in our Galaxy and briefly described in the instructions. As already mentioned, our solar system is represented by a glowing crown and marked with a “You are here” sign. Others include Trappist-1 (a planetary system 40 light-years from Earth, shown with a LEGO ice element), the Pleiades (a star cluster, shown with a LEGO crystal), or globular star clusters.
What stands out most in the model is the GAIA space telescope at the bottom left. An ESA (European Space Agency) project launched in 2013 to measure the Milky Way and our solar system. About a billion stars have been observed and cataloged more accurately than ever before, and the data is publicly available
LEGO's descriptive text states: “The one-billion-pixel GAIA space telescope has traveled billions of kilometers in our Milky Way for more than a decade.” Together with the position in the mosaic, this implies that the telescope has now reached the edge of the Milky Way. With all due respect, this is a bunch of nonsense and should have been clearer. GAIA is in a stable orbit about 1.5 million kilometers behind the moon, orbiting the sun with us. Billions of kilometers have actually been traveled, but within our solar system. Speaking on a – of course not representative – scale, GAIA would be a small fraction of a nanometer next to our 'You are here' location.
How did GAIA get to the edge of the Milky Way?
What does the finished mosaic look like now? I love the colours! Especially with a little distance, as with all ART models, it sets a nice accent (not only in the bathroom 😊). The three-dimensionality also fits well, but makes the whole story more sensitive to dust. The elements that were annoying during construction and were foreign to the Milky Way are ultimately not (negatively) noticeable at all. Everything blurs too much in one structure. The question that remains in my mind, and which I have been thinking about for a while, is whether the whole thing fits together so beautifully because of the brushes, roots and whisks, or despite the extraneous elements?
You keep the dust free in a display case
...the structure of the galaxy is easier to see than behind the space models.
Conclusion
The structure is more varied than a round tile mosaic, but obviously does not come close to a smart icon model. So a little perseverance is required.
The end result, the combination of color and texture, looks fantastic. Especially, but not only, for astronomy fans. The fact that the position of the GAIA telescope deviates by many thousands of light years could have been better explained in the description, but does not affect the artistic effect.
Packaging and contents
The packaging shines in a purple, black 18+ design and makes you long for a chocolate bar. The back contains detailed photos of the set and impressions of the radio play-supported solo construction or as a joint project in different groups.
Inside are plastic bags containing the colorful parts and another box. It contains more bags and the black, well-known Mosaic-Technic base plates. The six instruction booklets with approximately 40 to 50 pages are individually packaged and in a kink-free envelope. No stickers are included.
