News
September 2, 2015Saturn, the Ringed Planet, Comes to Schenectady NEW Planetarium Show Opens at miSci
Saturn: Ring World, a new planetarium show about the ringed planet, opens Tuesday, September 8 at miSci, the Museum of Innovation and Science. A show for all ages, this high definition, full-dome exploration lets visitors see Saturn up-close.
Saturn is the true “Lord of the Rings”. After nearly seven years in transit, the two-story Cassini-Huygens spacecraft began orbiting Saturn on July 1, 2004. Cassini continues to explore Saturn and its moons during its extended mission, while the Huygens probe had landed on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The Cassini Saturn encounter began with a flyby of Saturn’s farthest moon, Phoebe.
Saturn: Ring World is narrated by Star Trek’s John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox on ENTERPRISE) and was produced by the Houston Museum of Natural Science and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Suits-Bueche Planetarium at miSci is powered by the new projector and the GOTO Chronos Star Machine, a state-of-the-art teaching tool, which allows visitors to see 8,500 stars, close to the actual number of visible stars in the night sky. The GOTO Chronos can show the sky from any location on Earth and any place in the solar system; simulate the roll, pitch and yaw that astronauts experience on a space flight; and show the sky, for any point, 99,999 years in the past or the future.
An official NASA Space Place since 2005, the Suits-Bueche Planetarium at miSci welcomes thousands and thousands of visitors annually. In addition to offering a full schedule of public planetarium shows, miSci also offers planetarium specially designed shows for every grade level from pre-kindergarten through college for visiting school, scout and community groups. The Suits-Bueche Planetarium is a popular spot during miSci’s quarterly after hours special evening events and is also available for private rentals, during which it has been used as the setting or wedding proposals and anniversary celebrations.
miSci is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 12 noon to 5 p.m. Sunday and is located at 15 Nott Terrace Heights in Schenectady. Saturn: Ring World will run at 2 pm daily and 11 am Saturdays and school holidays. Admission to miSci is $6.50 for children (3 – 12), $8 for seniors (65+), and $9.50 for adults; add $5 for a Planetarium Show. For more information, please call 518.382.7890 or visit www.miSci.org.
Founded in 1934, miSci is the only science center in Tech Valley offering a multimedia experience for visitors of all ages and serves school children from northeastern New York, western Massachusetts, and southern Vermont. In 2012, miSci entered into a partnership program with the San Francisco-based Exploratorium’s ExNET (Exploratorium Network for Exhibit-Based Teaching) program, miSci receives a different group of hands-on, exploratory-rich exhibits each year for five years, as well as access to the Exploratorium resources to advance each partner’s work in specific areas such as education, inquiry, science engagement, and exhibit development. The Suits-Bueche Planetarium at miSci houses the only GOTO Star Projector in the northeast and is an official NASA Space Place. miSci’s Archives include an extensive GE Photograph collection, with more than 1.6 million prints and negatives; an archival collection with more than 3,500 cubic feet of historic materials; and more than 15,000 objects relating to the history of science and technology. miSci’s Archives houses an 1878 Edison tinfoil, the second oldest documented Edison tinfoil recording, the oldest playable American voice. miSci offers Science Zone, with weekly hands-on activities and challenges; Saturday Science Zone activities are sponsored by National Grid.
