The moon appeared to have fallen from the sky on Friday evening as hundreds of people lined Bristol’s Floating Harbour to watch a giant moon float past.
The moon belonged, of course, to Bristol artist Luke Jerram, and has been seen fairly regularly in the city over the past couple of years.
But on Friday evening it wasn’t hanging inside the Wills Memorial Building, or being deflated at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta - it was floating up the harbour.
The giant moon is an exact replica of the moon - or at least the image of the moon - and at seven metres across is on a scale of 1:500,000, with 120dpi imagery from NASA printed on a giant inflatable ball.
It was launched into the water at the Cottage pub near the Cumberland Basin at around 8.30pm and then floating eastwards, past the Grain Barge, the SS Great Britain, and arrived at the Arnolfini near Broad Quay around three quarters of an hour later.
Since he first unveiled his giant moon, it’s had quite a chequered and astonishing career.
It wowed thousands of people when first hung inside the Wills Memorial Building, but then was a let down, or was let down, when it burst in strong winds at the Balloon Fiesta that year.
It’s since toured the world, and had something of an adventure when it went missing en route to an exhibition in Austria, and turned up having been and getting lost in the Austrian postal system for a few days.
Most recently, a year after returning to Bristol for a bit, it’s been on display at the Natural History Museum, where more than a million people have gone to see it.
Luke Jerram is in Bristol at the moment, and last weekend showcased his latest project - a giant scale model of the Earth, which was on display at the Wills Memorial Building for a couple of days earlier this month.
Luke has created many huge artistic exhibitions and stunts, notably putting old boats in Leigh Woods, pianos all over Bristol, a garden full of optical illusions and a water slide down Park Street.
