Artist Matthew Luck Galpin uses his blacksmithing skills to rework meteorites by heating, hammering, grinding and polishing them into mirrors, his ‘Anvilled Stars.’

Meteorites are pieces or rock and metal that have fallen to Earth from Space. They are some of the only physical evidence we have to study the formation of the Solar System.

The meteorites started their unimaginable journey as part of the asteroid belt at the beginning of the Solar System, and fell to Earth after travelling for millions of years, through heat and cold, light and darkness. They shattered on entry into the atmosphere and crashed into the desert in northern Argentina around 4000 to 6000 years ago, witnessed by the local people, in the place now called the Field of Heaven or Campo del Cielo. It is estimated that the meteorites are 4,570 million years old.

Mirrors can take many forms from a still pond to a highly polished surface, reflecting not only ourselves but the world around us. Mirrors are also the essential components to many of the instruments, such as telescopes, that have been and are used to examine the universe.

A constellation of five meteoritic mirrors have been placed around the Cosmos & Culture and Measuring Time galleries, next to objects and instruments that are key to our search for knowledge and wonder in the universe.

“By working these iron meteorites and mirroring their trajectory, I feel closer to belonging to their journey through space and time, reaching a point of reflection of our part in it all. ” Matthew Luck Galpin

You can see Matthew at work in this YouTube video.

Opening from 14 July 2011 until October 2011.