Museum of Nature marks lunar landing’s anniversary with glowing ‘supermoon’

To mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, the Canadian Museum of Nature has replaced the giant, glowing jellyfish that normally hangs in its glass atrium with — what else? — a giant, glowing “supermoon.”

The inflated sculpture “Museum of the Moon” from British artist Luke Jerram is seven metres in diameter and features realistic craters, hills and valleys that are especially visible at night when it’s illuminated.

He used NASA lunar photos to make these works for display around the world, with sister moons in the U.S.A., London, France and Singapore.

This one will be in Ottawa until the last week of October.

The museum will host several exhibits to celebrate “moon season” in honour of the famous Apollo 11 mission. Some events will coincide with the anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon walk on July 21, 1969.

There will be a full day of moon-related programming Saturday including a visit from astronaut Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.

There will also be a moon rock from the 1972 Apollo 17 mission — the last time humans set foot on the moon — on display.

On July 18 at 7 p.m., astronaut Jeremy Hansen and Kate Howells of The Planetary Society will talk about Canada’s past and future involvement in space exploration.