Sometimes it is the little details and stories that make a visit to Walt Disney World so interesting. You may pass by something on every trip to Disney World, but someone mentions a new detail or something catches your eye, and suddenly you see things in a whole new light.
This happened to me recently.
I’m sure I’ve been through the Universe Of Energy dozens of times. While it isn’t a thrill ride, I’ve always enjoyed the technology and storytelling. I’ve walked into the same pre-show area many times, usually thankful to be out of the hot Florida weather and into a cool and dark place. But all those times I walked by an amazing work of art that tells a great story, and never realized it.
Art With A Lesson
As soon as you enter the doors in to the building, you pass by a colorful mosaic tile installation. It is brimming with blues, reds, and oranges. In the past I noticed that there is a countdown clock embedded into the glass tiles, and I always thought that was clever, but I never much thought about this work of art.
I recently learned that the mosaic represents an infrared illustration of our sun, showing its immense power and reach. But perhaps most interesting is that it does so to scale, showing how huge the sun is in proportion to the earth.
Wow, The Sun Is Really Huge
A fun fact about the sun: Our sun is about 1.3 million km in diameter, while the earth’s isn’t even 13,000 km in diameter. If you kept the dimensions of the earth as a ball, you could fit nearly a million of them inside a ball a size of the sun. (Source)
But back to the interesting Epcot mosaic: If you look closely toward the right, there is a small dot that shows the earth in its proper size compared to the sun. This dot is in the corner of a blue tile and only exists on the right side of the mural, not the left.
Check It Out, Share The Information
The next time you visit the Universe Of Energy, check out this insightful piece of art. Not only is it beautiful, but it cleverly illustrates a great science lesson about our galaxy.
And now you’ve also got a great piece of trivia to share with your friends.
Do you like the hidden message in the mosaic at the entrance to the Universe of Energy?