Monday, August 30 4:59 pm
Science is explosive… and it makes for awesome videos. In two minutes or less, show us how recent science breakthroughs have moved you, inspired you, or impacted your life. The winner will receive a weekend trip for two to New York City to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the Museum on October 10. For a complete list of rules, click here.
Friday, August 20 2:56 pm
See how it all began: now you can catch the Museum’s first two Space Shows every Friday and Saturday night in the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater.
This new after-hours series is part of the year-long celebration commemorating the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space. The screening features the breathtaking Passport to the Universe, narrated by Tom Hanks, which takes viewers on an exhilarating flight through our universe, and The Search for Life: Are We Alone?,narrated by Harrison Ford, which explores a question that has always captivated the human imagination: does life exist beyond Earth?
Shows start at 7:30 and 8:30 pm every Friday and Saturday in the Hayden Planetarium. Admission is $15, $12 for Museum Members. Click here to purchase tickets.
Friday, July 23 8:38 am
Since NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft was launched on a mission to study Mercury in 2004, it has returned stunning photographs of the innermost planet gathered during a series of flybys. (For a recent New York Times story about the surprising discoveries the spacecraft has already made, click here). Sean Solomon, principal investigator of MESSENGER, will be at the Museum on Monday, July 26, to speak about the new insights gleaned about Mercury’s high-density composition, its geological history, and its magnetic field in a special lecture. He will also discuss what’s next for MESSENGER, which is slated to enter Mercury’s orbit in March 2011. For some of the images retrieved from the mission so far, check out the gallery below.
 Lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida occurred in August, 2004, launching the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft on a 4.9-billion-mile journey to Mercury. The spacecraft, which was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, flew by Earth, Venus, and Mercury several times and will have circled the Sun 15 times before going into orbit around Mercury in March 2011. Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA |
Thursday, July 01 3:39 pm
For nearly 20 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been our window onto the cosmos, providing scientists with unparalleled views of Earth’s celestial neighborhood and extraordinary images of galaxies billions of light years away. Now, the dazzling IMAX film Hubble, which takes viewers on a Hubble servicing mission with the crew of Atlantis STS-125, comes to the big screen at the American Museum of Natural History’s Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Theater.
Narrated by Leonard DiCaprio, this stunning 43-minute feature lets audiences accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt some of the most difficult tasks in NASA’s history in addition to experiencing firsthand Hubble’s striking images from the heart of the Orion Nebula and the Milky Way galaxy.
Check out this Hubble webisode to see how astronauts get dressed for work, and click here to view the trailer, check showtimes, and buy tickets.
Tuesday, June 15 3:40 pm
Kathryn Harrison, former chair of the Grand Ronde Tribal Council, and Museum President Ellen V. Futter marked the 10th anniversary of an historic agreement recognizing the Tribes’ connection to the Willamette Meteorite in the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Hall of the Universe. © AMNH/D. Finnin
American Museum of Natural History officials and members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon gathered today in the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space to mark the 10th anniversary of an historic agreement recognizing the Tribes’ spiritual and cultural connection to the Willamette Meteorite, which is the centerpiece of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Hall of the Universe, and affirming the Museum’s role in maintaining public access to it.
Museum President Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History, and Kathryn Harrison, former chair of the Grand Ronde Tribal Council, were among those in attendance.
The largest meteorite ever found in the United States, the Willamette Meterorite weighs 15.5 tons and is believed by scientists to be the iron core of a planet that was shattered in a stellar collision billions of years ago. Its hollows were formed not in space but from weathering after it crashed into Earth thousands of years ago, traveling at more than 40,000 miles per hour. The Museum purchased it in 1906. Since then, it has been on almost continuous display at the Museum and has been viewed by millions of visitors from around the world.
A federally recognized tribe, the Grand Ronde is the successor to a number of tribes from northern California and western Oregon, including the Clackamas, who lived in the Willamette Valley before the arrival of European settlers and long revered the meteorite under the name “Tomanowos.” According to Clackamas tradition, a union occurred between the sky, earth, and water when the meteorite rested in the ground and collected rainwater in its basins. The rainwater in turn served as a powerful purifying, cleansing, and healing source for the Clackamas and their neighbors. Tribal hunters, seeking power, dipped their arrowheads in the water collected in the meteorite’s crevices. These traditions are preserved today through the ceremonies and songs of the descendants of the Clackamas. As part of the Grande Ronde agreement with the Museum, a description of the meteorite’s significance to the Clackamas was installed in the Cullman Hall of the Universe alongside a description of its scientific importance. The Museum also established an internship program for Native American young people.
