The Fallen Moon display, which is a large moon based of NASA data, floating on water in Bridgwater's docks — Image caption,

Fallen Moon is a scale model that is 350,000 times smaller than the real thing

Leigh Boobyer

BBC News, Somerset

A giant replica of the moon placed in a disused docks has deflated in high winds over the weekend.

Artist Luke Jerram had chosen Bridgwater, in Somerset, to debut his first water-based installation of the Fallen Moon.

However the internally-lit sculpture, based on data from NASA, was damaged by “extreme weather”, Bridgwater Town Council said.

The council said it is assessing the cause of the malfunction and the extent of the damage, confirming the project has “come to an end”.

It apologised for any inconvenience or disappointment, and said it has launched an investigation.

The moon was installed ahead of the start of £5.2m regeneration works to the docks that have not been in use since December 2021.

More than 10,000 people have visited the docks since the artwork was unveiled on 15 October, the council said. The display was planned to finish on 3 November.

“This is a technically challenging project with it being the first water-based installation of Luke’s Image, we knew technical challenges might occur,” the council said.

It added: “The safety of our visitors and the integrity of the artwork are of utmost importance to us”