Now that Thanksgiving is over, we’re moving into the full rush of this year’s NYC holiday season with the usual upcoming activities including the Rockefeller Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 4th; the holiday markets and ice skating at Bryant Park, and the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.

But as enjoyable as these attractions can be, what if you need a little rest from this roller coaster of holiday events ? What if for, even just a little bit of time, you’d like to  be educated as well as inspired by a different form of spectacular entertainment?

 

Last October I was happy to be invited to the press preview of the American Museum of Natural History’s new movie, “Dark Universe.”  This space show was introduced by its narrator, Neil deGrasse Tyson, the well known Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium.

Dr. Tyson. who next spring will be hosting a 21st century reboot  of Carl Sagan’s iconic series,Cosmos, joined a panel that included the show’s composer, producer, as well as the animation and technical experts. As a space show, Dark Universe was distinguished from the previously seen sky shows that had us looking out from the surface of the earth into space.

Instead, with the aid of digital technology a space show takes you off of the surface of the earth, out of the solar system and into the Universe.  You are there!   Curator Dr Mordecai-Mark Mac Low noted that this requires the full use of the tremendous astronomical knowledge that they’ve accumulated over the last century.The museum takes advantage of the digital universe which draws on this knowledge and puts it  into a domed theater with the aid of what the museum considers to be the best astrophysical simulators.

 

 

got the chance to see it, and it was a great ride that started at the edge of our solar system. After flying through our planetary neighborhood, we continue on to California’s Mount Wilson Observatory, where Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the universe is expanding gave the first hint of the Big Bang and beyond.

Click here to learn more about this show and while you’re there, take a look at the Power of Poison. Click here for info on this new exhibit.