I have been going to the Museum of Science since I was a little girl. My parents took me and my sister frequently, I went there on countless school field trips, and even spent a night sleeping in the Museum with my Girl Scout troop. When I graduated from college and moved to Inman Square in Cambridge, one of the first things I did was purchase my own membership to the Museum. It was, after all, just two miles away. Since moving to Brighton I haven't been over the river to the Museum often enough. When I read the Museum recently completed a $9 million dollar renovation of the its planetarium, I knew I had to check it out.
I woke up this morning and met one of my friends at the Museum at 11:00am. There is construction on the street the Museum is located on, so be sure to leave yourself extra time to get there and park if you go in the next couple of weeks.
We had purchased our tickets online the day before and just needed to print them at the kiosk in the lobby. I appreciate that the Museum allows you to purchase your tickets in advance and that the pick up process is so simple.
With tickets in hand we headed to the new Charles Hayden Planetarium. The area where you stand in line was also part of the renovation and now features an interactive solar system exhibit. In fact, we were standing in line right next to the sun portion of the exhibit.
When the staff opened the doors to the planetarium and we took our first steps over the threshold we were immediately struck by the enormity of the blue screen.
We took seats in the center of the dome, in the second row. The seats are incredible! They are reclined almost all the way back to give you an easy view of the "sky" above. I wish I could put these seats in my house! They were so comfortable!
As we settled into our seats the announcer let us know there would be a preview before our show our the new 3D capabilities of the planetarium. Let me tell you, the future shows are going to be awesome! I was seated next to a five year old girl who kept saying "Wow!" over and over again. Wow, indeed.
The show we selected to see was called "Undiscovered Worlds: The Search Beyond Our Sun." The 40 minute show explored how astronomers research solar systems beyond our own and how they seek possible, habitable planets orbiting other stars. I took an astronomy course in college and this show was bringing back all of those lectures about the color and heat of stars, the different types of planets, the shape of galaxies and more.
The 3D capabilities in the new planetarium are incredible (No photos allowed during the show. Sorry!). Most of the people in the show were families with young children and though I am sure the children were lost on the narration, the images were absolutely amazing. You felt like you could reach up and touch the stars, planets and galaxies they were showing on screen.
I absolutely plan to go back and see the other planetarium shows which include: "The Sky Tonight" and "Cosmic Collisions." What's nice about the planetarium is that you can just buy tickets to that, and not have to pay admission the Museum exhibit halls. For us, it was the perfect start to our Saturday!
Thank you to all of the donors that made this renovation possible. We had a superb experience and can't wait to return.
