AMNH Announces Summer Public Programs

AMNH has announced the following summer public programs:

Transit of Venus
Tuesday, June 5 at 5:30 pm

Cullman Hall of the Universe

Free with Museum admission

On Tuesday, June 5, Venus will pass directly between the Earth and Sun. Historically, this uncommon alignment allowed scientists to measure the distance from Earth to the Sun and the scale of the entire solar system. Join us for a live simulcast of this rare transit from the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. At 6:30 pm, watch a screening of Australian artist Lynette Wallworth's Coral: Rekindling Venus in the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater. Wallworth's installation brings coral ecosystems to life and uses the transit of Venus as a rallying point for globAl Cooperation around this century's pressing issue: climate change.

 

SciCafe: Forgetting Fear
Wednesday, June 6 at 7:30 pm

Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis

Wallach Orientation Center, fourth floor

Free with cash bar, 21+ with ID

Enjoy cocktails, cutting-edge science, and conversation at this popular after-hours series. At the final installment for this season, neuroscientist Daniela Schiller will discuss the neural mechanisms of emotional control and flexibility and the possibility of changing fear memories.

 

Proudly sponsored by Judy and Josh Weston. This project was supported by the National Center for Research Resources and the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives of the National Institutes of Health.

 

Starball: Family Planetarium Program
Saturday, June 9 at 6 pm

Hayden Planetarium Space Theater

$12
See the stars in a new, more personal way in this interactive program in the Hayden Planetarium dome. Astronomy educators use audience members’ dreams to create new constellations in the night sky as part of an entertaining mix of astronomy, music, improv, and singing. Appropriate for children ages 4 and up.

 

Milstein Science Series: Great Barrier Reef
Sunday, June 10 from 11 am to 6 pm

Milstein Hall of Ocean Life

Free with Museum admission
Dolphins, sea turtles, sponges, and rays are just a few of the organisms that rely on the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system off the coast of Australia. Through scientist presentations, question-and-answer sessions, and hands-on activities, this Milstein Science Series program will educate visitors about the threats posed to the Great Barrier Reef by climate change, pollution, invasive species, and fishing. It will also explore what can be learned from the biodiversity that exists there and how this important resource can be protected.

 

At 5 pm, see a special presentation of Lynette Wallworth’s Coral: Rekindling Venus in the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater. As Venus passed between the Earth and the Sun in 1761, scientists around the world worked to measure the distance from the Earth to the Sun in a unique act of globAl Cooperation. This June, Venus will pass between the Earth and the Sun once again. Australian artist Lynette Wallworth is using Venus’s transit as a rallying point for worldwide scientific cooperation around this century’s pressing issue: climate change. Her immersive dome experience, called Coral: Rekindling Venus, focuses on the Great Barrier Reef to illustrate the complexity of coral ecosystems and their struggles to handle environmental stresses such as rising ocean temperatures.

 

Milstein Science Series: Mini-Dome Screenings of Coral: Rekindling Venus
Monday, June 11 to Sunday, June 24

Milstein Hall of Ocean Life

Free with Museum admission
Lynette Wallworth’s dome installation Coral: Rekindling Venus continues to bring coral reef systems to life in a special extension with daily back-to-back screenings in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life.

 

Identification Day

Saturday, June 16 at 6 pm

Hayden Planetarium Space Theater

$12

Bring your shells, rocks, insects, feathers, bones, and artifacts to the annual Identification Day. Scientists will attempt to identify your mysterious garage sale finds, exotic souvenirs, and flea-market discoveries. Items identified in previous years have included a whale jawbone, a green beetle bracelet from Brazil, and a 5,000-year-old stone spear point from Morocco. What will your mystery objects unravel? Note: No appraisals will be given, and gemstones will not be identified.

 

Frontiers in Astrophysics Lecture Series: Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe with Alex Filippenko
Monday, June 18 at 7:30 pm

Hayden Planetarium Space Theater

$15 ($13.50 Members, students, seniors)
The expansion of the universe, once thought to be slowing down, is now believed to be speeding up under the force of a mysterious “dark energy.” Join astronomer Alex Filippenko to learn how he uses distant exploding stars to study dark energy and its creation of a runaway universe.

 

Astronomy Live! The Grand Tour of the Universe
Tuesday, June 26 at 6:30 pm

Nearly everyone knows that Earth is the third planet from the Sun, but where is the Sun among the other stars in the Milky Way? Travel from Earth to the most distant objects in the universe, past exoplanets, nearby stars, and galaxies, to gain a cosmic understanding of where we are and how we came to be.

 

Manhattanhenge
Wednesday, July 11 at 7 pm

Hayden Planetarium Space Theater

$15 ($13.50 Members, students, seniors)
As the Sun sets on July 11, 2012, it will be perfectly aligned with Manhattan’s numbered streets, showering them in light and creating cinema-worthy views.  Join Jackie Faherty, a research scientist in the Museum’s Department of Astrophysics, for a viewing of this special event.  Director of the Hayden Planetarium Neil deGrasse Tyson, who coined the phrase “Manhattanhenge,” has written in his Hayden Planetarium blog: “What will future civilizations think of Manhattan Island when they dig it up and find a carefully laid out network of streets and avenues? Surely the grid would be presumed to have astronomical significance, just as we have found for the pre-historic circle of large vertical rocks known as Stonehenge, in the Salisbury Plain of England.”

 

Learn the history and simple astronomy behind this unique event in a special presentation at the Hayden Planetarium. The program will be followed by a live viewing of Manhattanhenge outside the Museum.

 

Evening Bat Walks in Central Park
Three Fridays, July 13, July 20, and July 27 at 8:30 pm

$40 adults; $25 children ages 12 and younger

At dusk, bats leave the warm spaces under city roofs to feed on flying insects. Join Brad Klein, Danielle Gustafson, and other members of the New York City Bat Group for a walk through Central Park. Aided by a detector that amplifies the bats’ otherwise inaudible high-frequency chirps, bat watchers monitor and catalogue the species that call the city home.

 

Meet at the Museum entrance on 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Enrollment is limited. Please register no later than one week in advance. [Rain date is Saturday, July 28]

 

Summer Skies and Telescope Party
Tuesday, July 31 at 7:30 pm
Explore city, suburban, and rural summer skies with meteorologist Joe Rao and astronomer TEd Williams. Surf the Milky Way to find deep-space objects visible with binoculars or a small telescope, and finish with a look at the Perseid meteor shower. Weather permitting, a star party co-hosted by the Amateur Astronomers Association will follow on the Arthur Ross Terrace.

 

Sky to Space

Tuesday, August 28 at 6:30 pm
Since antiquity, astronomical observations have played a critical role in scientific advancement. In this program, research scientist Jackie Faherty and astrophysics educator Christina Pease re-create pivotal astronomical discoveries using the Hayden Planetarium’s projectors.

 

Museum Information

 

Hours

The Museum is open daily, 10 am–5:45 pm.

The Museum is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

Space Show Hours

Space Shows are shown Monday through Friday every half hour, 10:30 am–4:30 pm except Wednesdays (first show on Wednesday begins at 11 am).  Saturday through Sunday, every half hour, 10:30 am–5 pm.

 

Admission

Suggested general admission, which supports the Museum’s scientific and educational endeavors and includes 46 Museum halls and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, is $19 (adults) suggested; $14.50 (students/seniors) suggested; $10.50 (children) suggested.

 

The Museum offers discounted combination ticket prices that include suggested general admission plus special exhibitions, IMAX films, and Space Shows.

o   Museum plus special exhibition, IMAX film, or Space Show: $25 (adults), $19 (students/seniors), $14.50 (children)

o   Museum Supersaver, which includes the Space Show, IMAX, and all special exhibitions: $33 (adults), $25.50 (students/seniors), $20.50 (children)

 

Visitors who wish to pay less than the suggested Museum admission and also want to attend a special exhibition, IMAX film, or Space Show may do so only on-site at the Museum. To the amount they wish to pay for general admission, they should add $20 (adults), $16.50 (students/seniors), or $11 (children) for a Space Show, special exhibition, or IMAX film.

 

Public Information

For additional information, the public should call 212-769-5100 or visit the Museum’s website, amnh.org.