Watch an Artist Recreate Cosmic Radiation With Sand

Images of the Cosmic Microwave, a.k.a. the halo of radiation left over from the Big Bang, require sophisticated telescopes to capture. But one artist has found a way to recreate the visual data using nothing but colored sand. According to WIRED, Rachel Sussman’s "Cosmic Microwave Mandala" took two weeks to lay out. Equipped with a Tibetan chak-pur tool, she deposited the sand a few grains at a time to arrange her mandala. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, mandalas can represent the universe. That makes the Cosmic Microwave, which is as old as the universe itself, an appropriate choice for her subject. After completing the project at the New Museum Los Gatos in California, she destroyed it as is customary when creating sand mandalas. Fortunately, you can still appreciate the work of art in the video below.

[h/t WIRED]