Today’s LED-related news offers a neat, practically literal parallel to the story of the solid-state lighting technology’s ascendancy.

Deerfield Beach, Florida-based MSI announced today that the San Diego Air and Space Museum is replacing the tungsten halogen lighting it currently uses with the LED lighting manufacturer’s LED bulbs. Coincidentally, MSI’s LEDs are already being put to work at the museum’s gift shop.

In addition to energy savings and lower maintenance costs — the bulbs can last up to 13 years if left on 12 hours a day versus four months for tungsten halogen lamps, according to MSI — there’s another benefit that should please the eyes of discerning museum goers.

MSI explains in its press release:

Further advantages of LED lighting include its ability to be dimmed without any shift in its color spectrum. This allows museums to increase or lower lighting for changing exhibitions without altering the color temperature of the light being produced. LED’s also provide a more focused light without any of the irregularities that occur when the tungsten halogen light passes through the lamp’s lens.

And since LED’s are more disciplined in the wavelengths of light that they emit, exhibits are less prone to fading and damage from ultraviolet and infrared light.

What about that parallel I mentioned early in the post? Let’s just say that it’s fitting that a company that got its start shedding some light in underground mines is now helping to showcase beautiful exhibits that house some of the world’s most inspiring high-flying aircraft.

Image credit: San Diego Air and Space Museum