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 There are confirmed reports that
you’ve undertaken a major project. With the help of many other people in the area you
are creating a scale model solar system along Route 1, between Presque Isle and Houlton.
How big a project this, Kevin?
It’s pretty big. Solar systems models are not unusual, there’s lots
of them about. They tend to be about the size of a page in a science textbook, for
example, or maybe they might be the length of a hallway - we have one of that size at the
Northern Maine Museum of Science [on the campus of the University of Maine at Presque
Isle]. These smaller solar system models always have problems because you can show the
distance, but if you’re going to show the planets you have to increase their size. In
other words, have them at a second scale so that you can see the planets and see the
distances, and so all solar system models by and large tend to have at least two scales:
one for diameter, one for distance. The project we’re working on here is to have a
solar system model of a single scale, so that you
actually can see the comparative distance and diameter on the same scale. The scale is one mile is
equal to 93 million miles, or 1:93,000,000. One mile on Route 1 is the distance from
the Earth to the Sun, which is called an astronomical unit. We’re going to do
everything on that scale. The distance that the moon will be from the Earth will be at
that scale; the size of the moon, the size of the Earth, the size of the Sun, the size of
all the planets and a number of the moons in the system will all be done on the same
scale.
 Before we get into more details about where the planets are
placed along Route 1, Where did this project originate? Was this your idea?
Al Kulp, at [the UMPI] Physical Plant, arrived here a couple of years ago and
was taking a first look at the science museum. He mentioned something that he had seen in
the state of Washington. There’s a little north-south running road where a school had
laid out some billboards showing the planets. He said that road was a lot like Route 1,
and that might be an idea for us to do in The County. It took a while for me to think
about it, but on a trip up from Houlton I measured the mileage from Houlton to Presque
Isle, which turns out to be about 40 miles. On a whim [I] looked at a textbook at the
number of astronomical units where the various planets are located away from the Sun.
Well, it turns out Pluto is 40 astronomical units from the Sun, and when I broke out the
other planets at that scale, they all worked out at doable locations where the roads were
rather straight. The landowners and community leaders were amenable to the idea, and so we
started asking around and working out some of the details and figuring out some of the
many problems involved.
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| Graphique DesignWorks
60 Sweden Street
Postbox 1002
Caribou, Maine 04736-1002
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When did this idea first occur to you?
A group of 40 or 50 people in the community and myself have been working on
this now for about a year.
And these 40 or 50 people involved, are they from the university,
public schools, community people?
Almost every walk of life you can think of. We have various community
leaders, people from the town offices, people from schools, people from the university, a
variety of people have gotten involved. We’ve talked to the people who built the
balloon models [which are at the Trans-Atlantic balloon launching sites in Caribou and
Presque Isle] and got their input. We have talked to just about anybody that had some
expertise to offer to this. People at the
Department of Transportation.
It sounds like people’s involvement grew through word of mouth.
 When we first started on this, we kept it very quiet. It's
a big enough project that you can’t even begin to understand the various problems. We
understood right away that some problem or another would get in our way. So we worked on
it very quietly, and actually did not start talking about it publicly until this past week
or two, [not] until we figured that this is something we can do. We have lots of problems
still to figure out; we’ve got all kinds of issue, but we can do this.
Where are the planets situated along Route 1 and, as of mid-May, where
are you in terms of construction and assembly?
The Earth is a mile from the Sun. The Earth is about 61/2 inches in diameter.
It is located at Percy’s Auto Sales. We actually have two Earth models: we’ll
have an outdoor model on the roadside for the summertime, and then we’ll have an
indoor model for the winter time.
Is that going to be for each planet?
No, just for the Earth. The Earth is the prettiest model, and also the
outdoor model is going to be in an area where the snow gets plowed in the wintertime, so
they need to take that indoors. The Sun itself is 50 feet in diameter. That will be not a
complete sphere, but a sort of a crescent shape that will go down the stairwell at Folsom
Hall at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
So that’s an indoor model.
That’s an indoor. All the rest of
the planets will be on Route 1. They will be outdoor, roadside, three-dimensional scale
models. Mercury will be located at a garden on Burrell’s property. Venus will be
located at the Budget Traveller Motor Lodge. Earth will be at Percy’s Auto Sales. Mars tentatively, will be at the “Welcome to
Presque Isle” sign a mile and a half from the Sun.
If you'd like to read more of Kevin McCartney's interview pick up your copy of
Aroostook Magazine June's issue at a newsstand near you. It's
available at over 210 outlets throughout Aroostook County.
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