HE HAS A DIFFERENT VIEW
ONTARIOLight show's solar system put back in order by seven-year-old stargazer
STRATFORD – It took a seven-year-old with a surprisingly expansive knowledge of our solar system to literally put the planets back in order for a holiday lights display here.
Author of the article: Galen Simmons
• Stratford Beacon Herald
Overall, Jaxon said he loves the Journey to the Stars display, and is happy Gribble and his team at Destination Stratford were able to put Neptune and Uranus back in their rightful positions around the Sun.
“He was just so excited that he could literally move the planets,” a laughing Flood said.
gsimmons@postmedia.com
Publishing date:Dec 25, 2021 •
Lights On Stratford general manager Kaileigh Krysztofiak, seven-year-old Jaxon Brooks and Destination Stratford executive director Zac Gribble point out the storm in Neptune's southern hemisphere that recently led Jaxon to realize Neptune and Uranus were out of order in the winter lights festival's Journey to the Stars exhibit on Tom Patterson Island. (Galen Simmons/the Beacon Herald)
STRATFORD – It took a seven-year-old with a surprisingly expansive knowledge of our solar system to literally put the planets back in order for a holiday lights display here.
On his first visit to the Lights On Stratford winter festival’s Journey to the Stars display on Tom Patterson Island, Jaxon Brooks noticed something wasn’t quite right with two of the planets.
“I just saw that Neptune was where Uranus was because it’s a darker shade than Uranus, so I instantly knew it was wrong,” Brooks said. “I’ve been learning (about planets) on my own since about 2020, I think.”
According to his mom, Kelsea Flood, Jaxon has been reading and re-reading a book about the solar system in bed every night for the past few years, which gave him an in-depth understanding of the physical details of each planet.
Since the lit-up planet balloons on Tom Patterson Island are about as detailed as they can be, it didn’t take long for Jaxon to recognize Neptune was out of order based on the characteristic dark spot in its southern hemisphere. On the actual planet, that spot is a massive spinning storm with wind speeds of up to 2,400 kilometres per hour – the highest recorded wind speeds ever recorded on any planet in the solar system.
So, after a quick Google search to convince his mom the planets were, in fact, misplaced, Flood messaged Destination Stratford executive director Zac Gribble to see if the mistake could be fixed.
“When we received the planet display, the planets were not labelled,” Gribble said. “After some debate, we figured out (what we thought) was the proper order from the Sun and we set it up. It turned out that it was a mistake on a planetary scale with the final two planets”
While more than 8,000 people walked through the planets on Tom Patterson Island over the exhibit’s first few days, enjoying the 1,000 stars overhead, the giant sun in the centre and the planets of our solar system around the edge, Jaxon was the only person to spot the error, Gribble said.
“I was just thrilled that Jaxon insisted that his mom get in touch with us and let us know about this mistake,” Gribble said. “We verified it and immediately corrected it, so the universe is back in alignment.”
STRATFORD – It took a seven-year-old with a surprisingly expansive knowledge of our solar system to literally put the planets back in order for a holiday lights display here.
On his first visit to the Lights On Stratford winter festival’s Journey to the Stars display on Tom Patterson Island, Jaxon Brooks noticed something wasn’t quite right with two of the planets.
“I just saw that Neptune was where Uranus was because it’s a darker shade than Uranus, so I instantly knew it was wrong,” Brooks said. “I’ve been learning (about planets) on my own since about 2020, I think.”
According to his mom, Kelsea Flood, Jaxon has been reading and re-reading a book about the solar system in bed every night for the past few years, which gave him an in-depth understanding of the physical details of each planet.
Since the lit-up planet balloons on Tom Patterson Island are about as detailed as they can be, it didn’t take long for Jaxon to recognize Neptune was out of order based on the characteristic dark spot in its southern hemisphere. On the actual planet, that spot is a massive spinning storm with wind speeds of up to 2,400 kilometres per hour – the highest recorded wind speeds ever recorded on any planet in the solar system.
So, after a quick Google search to convince his mom the planets were, in fact, misplaced, Flood messaged Destination Stratford executive director Zac Gribble to see if the mistake could be fixed.
“When we received the planet display, the planets were not labelled,” Gribble said. “After some debate, we figured out (what we thought) was the proper order from the Sun and we set it up. It turned out that it was a mistake on a planetary scale with the final two planets”
While more than 8,000 people walked through the planets on Tom Patterson Island over the exhibit’s first few days, enjoying the 1,000 stars overhead, the giant sun in the centre and the planets of our solar system around the edge, Jaxon was the only person to spot the error, Gribble said.
“I was just thrilled that Jaxon insisted that his mom get in touch with us and let us know about this mistake,” Gribble said. “We verified it and immediately corrected it, so the universe is back in alignment.”
Overall, Jaxon said he loves the Journey to the Stars display, and is happy Gribble and his team at Destination Stratford were able to put Neptune and Uranus back in their rightful positions around the Sun.
“He was just so excited that he could literally move the planets,” a laughing Flood said.
gsimmons@postmedia.com
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