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LED Constellation Display Lights Up Grand Central, Once Again

by Amar Toor on November 9, 2010 at 01:40 PM

led constellation grand central The bright lights of New York may prevent its inhabitants from seeing heavenly bodies at night, but inside Grand Central Station, New Yorkers can now star-gaze to their hearts' content. A group of electricians recently revamped a brilliant, LED-lit constellation display along the ornate ceiling of the Grand Central Terminal, giving new life to a tradition that was dangerously close to fading.

The ceiling has been adorned with an illuminated constellation display for nearly 98 years, but had recently fallen on hard times, thanks to burned-out bulbs and a fiber-optic system that had slowly begun to fail. Over the course of the past six months, though, the Metro-North Railroad has been renovating and refurbishing the installation, which was finally unveiled on Monday.

As the New York Times reports, the starlit display now boasts a new set of LED lights, which are expected to last about five years, and consume roughly 60-percent less electricity than the previous fiber-optic bulbs. Each of the 59 bulbs comprise gold-leafed constellations, which are cast about 125 feet above the terminal floor, against the ceiling's blue-green background. Most city commuters may not want to unstick their gaze from the ground, but the next time they're scurrying across Grand Central, they may find themselves suddenly lost in the firmament.

Tags: art, constellation, GrandCentral, green, led, MTA, NewYork, stars, terminal, top, transportation

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