Shooting stars are circling the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) where the dazzling exhibition “Cosmic Splendor: Jewelry from the Collections of Van Cleef & Arpels” has just landed. There, some 60 pieces of glittering jewelry, timepieces, and objets d’art depict the wonders of the celestial world: meteor showers become radiating spirals of gold with diamonds; history’s famous moon walk of 1969 is a cratered orb of hammered gold, a cabochon ruby pinpointing where Neil Armstrong took his “one small step for mankind”; the sun appears as the smiley face of the 60s in green chrysoprase and citrine pendants; zodiac jewelry from the groovy 70s is, well, still groovy. For sheer ingenuity and craftsmanship dedicated to the heavens, the Poetic Complication timepieces are beyond spectacular. As Alexandrine Maviel Sonet, patrimony and exhibitions director of Van Cleef & Arpels, says, “Cosmic wonders have inspired the Maison to the present day.” For us earthlings, what better way to travel to the universe above? —Ruth Peltason