Encounters in the Milky Way

Spiral-shaped rendering of the Milky Way as seen from space.

A visualization of the Milky Way’s collision with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, which has been ongoing for several billion years, based on a simulation from the University of Surrey.
Jon Parker /© AMNH

Show Information

Format:

Full Dome

Resolution:

8K; 4K

Frame rate:

60fps; 30 fps

Narrator:

Pedro Pascal

Timing:

25 minutes; can be ticketed on the half hour

Available Languages:

English, English (Assisted Listening); Descriptive audio, Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin)

Technical Information:

Can be customized for presentation on most digital planetarium systems

The Museum's newest Hayden Planetarium Space Show, Encounters in the Milky Way, brings audiences on a time-traveling journey to witness some of the chance encounters that have shaped the destiny of the cosmos.

Narrated by Pedro Pascal, Encounters in the Milky Way is the first American Museum of Natural History Space Show to present the story of cosmic motion and how that impacts our solar system. Reaching billions of years into the past and peering millions of years into the future, this time-traveling journey is made possible by data from one of the most transformative astronomical projects of the past century: the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, which has been dubbed the “billion-star survey” for mapping the precise positions, distances, and motions of nearly 2 billion stars in the Milky Way since 2013.

[MUSIC BEGINS]

[A glittering space telescope flies through space with stars in the background.]

NARRATOR: We are a product of cosmic encounters.

[A scan reveals more and more stars in the galaxy, where we didn’t see any before.]

NARRATOR: And what’s happening in the Milky Way Galaxy,

[A green bubble of gas appears in a galaxy, with red dust and stars swirling around it.]

NARRATOR: –is happening throughout our galactic neighborhood–

[A busy field of stars where all the stars are moving on different paths.]

NARRATOR: –and across the universe.

[A model of our solar system flying through the galaxy.]

NARRATOR: I’m Pedro Pascal.

[A field of stars where each star is surrounded by a much larger orb.]

NARRATOR: Join me on a journey through our–

[More stars with orbs around them appear.]

NARRATOR: –tight-knit stellar neighborhood–

[The Milky Way appears, filled with glowing red and orange dust, and a bright white glowing center.]

NARRATOR: –into the bustling metropolis of the Milky Way.

[Text appears: American Museum of Natural History. Encounters in the Milky Way. Narrated by Pedro Pascal.]

[END MUSIC]

[Credits roll.

Encounters in the Milky Way was developed with the major support and partnership of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

With deep gratitude to Van Cleef & Arpels

Generously sponsored by Robert and Kristin Peck]

In addition to tracing the paths of stars, comets, interstellar debris, and visually stunning gas and dust clouds, Encounters in the Milky Way shows, for the first time, the dramatic merger of our galaxy with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.

Encounters also features the James Webb Space Telescope, operating since 2022 a million miles away from Earth and the most powerful space telescope yet.

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Encounters in the Milky Way was created by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (amnh.org).

Encounters in the Milky Way was developed with the major support and partnership of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Encounters in the Milky Way

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