The San Francisco-based Exploratorium is set to open its new spring exhibition, “Look Up: Eclipse, Moon, and Mars,” on Saturday. The exhibit invites visitors to immerse themselves in the wonders of space exploration through a combination of art, technology, and science.
Guests will have the opportunity to marvel at detailed replicas of the moon and Mars printed from high-resolution NASA imagery, as well as step into a room that simulates a total solar eclipse. Visitors can also explore several NASA’s Mars rovers, orbiters, and telescopes sourced from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The exhibition is built on the Exploratorium’s decades-long partnership with NASA, which has involved livestreaming total solar eclipses from across the globe. The collection of rovers ranges from suitcase- to minivan-size, providing a brief history lesson in NASA’s discoveries on Mars and familiarizing patrons with machines that are still up in space.
The exhibit will be joined by a new piece acquired by the museum, artist Luke Jerram’s replica of Mars using NASA imagery. The Mars replica will be installed in the Bechtel Gallery 3, allowing guests to visualize the planet’s landscape, which is approximately 250 million miles away from Earth at its furthest point.
The Exploratorium has also developed an immersive eclipse experience that aims to replicate the total darkness experienced during a solar eclipse. This experience will complement a new exhibit showing images of the sun taken at different wavelengths of light and will provide a hands-on experience for visitors to learn about the science behind eclipses.
Throughout the exhibition, museum staff will offer several programs that complement the main exhibitions, including talks on the history and science of eclipses and learning about how researchers studying Mars have shaped our understanding of outer space.
Source: https://www.sfexaminer.com/culture/museums-and-galleries/exploratorium-sf-space-exhibit-highlights-nasa-partnership/article_7077e754-e99c-11ef-94f9-efd82f41bf63.html