A Scene from “2001: A Space Odyssey”

Astronaut Dave Bowman surveys TMA-2, Tycho Magnetic Anomaly 2 close to Jupiter — a much larger version of TMA-1 found earlier on the Moon. He utters the words “My God, it’s full of stars” before being transported through some sort of star-gate.

The stars are simulated by a string of Christmas tree LED lights. The dimensions of the prototype are in the ratio 1:4:9. The model is in close proportion of 5:20:44 (1:4:8.9) for ease of construction.

According to the Arthur C. Clarke books, TMA-2 was 2km along its longest side, but it is later revealed that these devices can be any size required, so for my purposes this is ideal — stretching my stock of suitable black parts almost to the limit.

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