Posted by Davin Flateau on 4 Sep 2006 at 8:40 am.
Filed under General.
We’ve just been so busy putting together a great lineup of new astronomy and space shows and exhibits, that posting about all of the great new exhibits went to the back burner. Hopefully, everyone’s been following all the developments in The Eagle.
Sue: TheT-Rex is captivating thousands of people in its opening weekend, but while many come to see the giant dinosaur tower over them, they are also discovering the other new major happenings at EP: The biggest CyberDome show ever, and a new astronomy exhibit gallery featuring over 2,500 pounds of real meteorites - all found in Kansas!
CyberDome Spectacular: Cosmic Collisions narrated by Robert Redford.
Developed by The American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Cosmic Collisions is an exhilarating trip exploring what happens with things - sometimes very large things - go “crash” in the night sky. As we’ve seen with the asteroid impact that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, cosmic collisions can be a real threat to life on Earth.
The show uses simulations powered by supercomputers to accurately show what giant impacts may have looked like. See the moon in the night sky? It’s a result of a Mars-sized body smashing into Earth, and you’ll see the explosion surround you, just as it may have looked like if you were around 4.5 billion years ago. Hey, can anyone resist a show that blows up the earth twice?
Exploration Place is excited to be the first place in the U.S. outside of New York City to show Cosmic Collisions to the public. Visitors also get a live update on the latest threats from cosmic impacts, analyzing the orbits of near earth asteroids to see which ones might come a little too close to comfort in the near future.
New Astronomy Exhibit Gallery - An meteoroid impact 65 million years ago may have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, but don’t blame the five large meteorites on display in our new astronomy exhibit gallery. The 2,500 pounds of real meteorites are all from Kansas, from the original Brenham meteorite that exploded above Kansas centuries ago. Two meteorites, each weighing hundreds of pounds, were just discovered in July, and are making their public debut at EP. But you can’t miss the “main mass” - the record holding world’s largest oriented pallasite on display, tipping the scales at a whopping 1,400 pounds. There are two meteorites you can even touch!
In the new gallery, it’s hard to miss the two giant 50″ plasma screens that display the latest astronomy news and information in stunning high-definition video. The ViewSpace exhibit screens are linked to the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute, and update every day with the latest breaking news about astronomy and space. You can also learn about black holes, giant stellar explosions, and all different aspects astronomy, including what stars and planets are visible in the sky tonight. Visitors can literally spend hours with this great new display, and still not see all it has to offer.
Rounding our the new astronomy exhibits is the Astro Computing Station, where you can get online with the best astronomy websites and experiment with the Universe using a variety of astronomy programs.
Whew! We certainly hope to see you at Exploration Place soon. The Universe awaits!
