A lucky few have now had the light of a stranger’s sun shine on their skin.
That light was generated here Soilin the world’s first “star tanning salon”, which opened this week in the Festival of the future in Munich, Germany.
The salon lamps simulate the spectra of a variety of lamps starsfrom the bright, bluish-white Vega to bloated Betelgeuzea red supergiant whose life will end, maybe relatively soonin a violent supernova explosion.
“With a star brown color you can experience life further alien planets “vicarious,” conceptual artist Jonathan Keatswho developed the idea, said in a statement: “You get the benefits of space tourism without the hassle and expense.”
Keats’s own taste in starlight is cool, but he might be willing to deviate a little.
“I burn every time I go outside, so a brown dwarf would be best for me,” he told Space.com via email from Germany. “But I really enjoy a warm summer afternoon, so I’m tempted by WR 142 or LMC195-1—and even more so because we have them in a supernova every day.”
Related: 20 Years of Alien Thought Experiments: A Q&A with artist Jonathon Keats
Like many of Keats’ projectsthe new tanning studio, designed by Noran Becker, aims to perspective shift: It invites visitors to think beyond themselves and their home planet, which is after all just a speck in an infinitely vast cosmos.
For example, the salon serves meteorite mineral water, which has absorbed the essence of other worlds, such as Mars. And maybe you’ll rub your elbows with a Martian while you catch some rays; everyone is welcome in the salon, including those who consider the light of our sun exotic.
“The salon is a place where people from all over the world come together the universe can come together and find common ground,” Keats said in the same statement.
“You can think of it as a galactic community center – one with a nice communal spa,” he added. ‘It’s the perfect way to show that we are all there aliens – and we are all cosmic beings.”
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The Munich installation will be just the first of many great tanning salons, if all goes according to plan. As usual, Keats is thinking big with this project.
“Ideally, the next great tanning salon will be located in another universeor at least on a planet orbiting a star other than our sunIt only seems fair, since we have the benefit of tanning under extraterrestrial light, that we share what our solar system has to do with beings elsewhere,” he told Space.com.
“If another galaxy is not feasible, then I would be interested in bringing the star tanning salon to Club Med,” he added. “People who go there obviously appreciate the sun, so I think it would be a natural place to broaden the horizons.”
