archeology
Copy of the sky disk from space travel back in Halle
The astronaut Matthias Maurer places the replica of the Nebra sky disk in a display case in the Halle State Museum of Prehistory. photo
© Heiko Rebsch/dpa
The Sky Disk is back from space. The German astronaut Matthias Maurer brought the reduced copy to the home of the original, to the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle.
The German astronaut Matthias Maurer has the copy of the The sky disk was returned to the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle on Saturday. The reduced copy of the exceptional find accompanied Maurer on his mission on the International Space Station ISS from November 2021 to May 2022.
“The people who created the sky disk 3,600 years ago probably already had the same philosophical questions that we ask ourselves today when we look at the night sky: How did the universe come into being? How does it work? Is there another Earth out there with intelligent beings?” said Maurer.
The replica will be on display in the State Museum in Halle, home of the original Nebra Sky Disk, until May 5, 2024. It has a diameter of 20 centimeters.
Maurer was the 600th person and also the twelfth German in space and the fourth on the ISS. At more than 3,600 years old, the Nebra Sky Disk is considered the world’s oldest representation of concrete celestial phenomena.
State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology State Museum of Prehistory