Foster Planet Walk
Welcome to the Foster Planet Walk
The Foster Planet Walk was created in 1996 through a generous grant from Anthony J. Foster, M.D. '73 and Linda Nemec Foster, MFA '72, who attended, met, and later graduated from Aquinas College.
The Planet Walk is a scale model of the solar system, consisting of nine bronze disks mounted on large rocks that stretch across campus from Albertus Hall to Fulton Street. The project was a collaboration between physics professor Chuck Frydrych, art professor and sculptor Ron Pederson, senior geography major Jennifer Zimmerman, and art major Nancy Hart. The bronze disks were cast at the Alchemist-Tye Fine Art Foundry in Kalamazoo, MI.
These wonderful sculptures have added to the beauty of our campus and highlights the artistic and scientific prowess of the Aquinas College community.
"The Earth from Space"
"You look like a total stranger.
No hint of the familiar ground
beneath our feet, but a gauze-wrapped sapphire
suspended in heavy black and disbelief.
That’s what they must have seen:
those men on the moon who only dreamed you
on the horizon, over their shoulders. Forgetting
for one long moment the difference between
night and day, water and air, home and here."
Copyright © 2001 by Linda Nemec Foster. This poem was previously published in the chapbook, Contemplating the Heavens (Ridgeway Press, 2001), by Linda Nemec Foster. All rights reserved. This poem cannot be used without the consent of the author.
Fun Facts:
- The Foster Planet Walk was once featured in Disney's "Family Fun" magazine as a fun location to visit.
- It is impossible to stand on Uranus.
- Mars, in its entirety, is comparably as frigid as the South Pole.
- Saturn's rings are composed of 90% water.
- The biggest of Jupiter's moons, Ganymede, harbors a saline ocean that holds a greater amount of water than what exists on Earth.
- The total walk itself is 0.62 miles.
Boulder Legend
