heavenly gaze

by Megan Champion
The rumble of an enormous engine, the pounding of a human heart, the passing of… blood platelets?
Before you have time to think about what you’re looking at, off you go, jettisoned into a hollow blood vessel where you dip, dive, swing and turn from side to side throughout a human body. The ever increasing thump of a beating heart provides the background music on this wild ride, until out you come, an onlooker viewing a space ship floating underneath you where astronauts are working, unaware or uninterested in you, the viewer.
Oh yes, you’re the viewer and no you have not just traveled on a trip defying science, instead you are experiencing a rocket launch from inside the human body while watching one of the programs at MOSH’s new planetarium. This optical rollercoaster, narrated by Ewan McGregor, is going to take you on a serious ride through space and give you a glimpse into the lives of these men and women we call astronauts.
If you were lucky enough to view a show at the recently retired planetarium, you will see a dramatic difference. You’ll appreciate the giant leap in technology which makes viewing the stars go from a large, fuzzy projection to a sharp three dimensional experience. You and your kids will be anxious for science in a way you never imagined.
Everything about the Bryan Gooding Planetarium is an upgraded experience from the fully refurbished Alex Brest Space Center with 192 brand new reclining chairs mounted atop a spread of fresh carpet; to the upgraded high definition sound system and installation of a state of the art projector, the only Super MediaGlobe II in the state of Florida.
Tom Webber, Director of Planetarium Programming at the MOSH waves his hand toward the new projector which looks a lot like an oversized copying machine, “We went from Optical Mechanical which is basically Light bulbs and Lenses to an entirely digital system. The days of manually loading screen shots just to show students a particular system of stars is gone. Now I can pull from an enormous database to show you a meteor shower that is happening right now, take a look behind Venus, view live NASA feeds and go ‘traveling into space’ in ways we were never able to before. It’s a completely different experience.”
That is an understatement. The large slate blue Jena Spacemaster, MOSH’s recently retired planetarium which served its time from 1988 up until Fall 2010 looked like a blown up version of your optometrists’ lab equipment, projecting images above while the programmer pointed out the milky way with a laser pen. What was once cutting edge had become a recipe for Dad’s afternoon naps on the weekend family outing.
The generous gift of $465K from the Bryan Family Trustees of the Henry and Lucy Gooding Endowment initiated this tremendous overhaul with the purchase of the new projector otherwise known as a planetarium. Other donors have contributed as well, making it possible for MOSH to host an experience like no other available in Northeast Florida.
In the new Space Science Gallery you can take a look at the collection of meteorites on display or the life sized replicas of spacesuits worn by Neil Armstrong and John Glen. The Lunar Legacy is a touch screen interactive experience and on display are two of the three vintage planetariums used by MOSH since 1951.
In Tom Webbers 15 years of planetarium experience he has seen a lot and says that he is most impressed with MOSH’s sheer dedication to spearheading such a substantial “Investment into Education” with the new programming that takes science out of the text books and delivers it in an unforgettable format.
No doubt about it, this is sure to be a top attraction in Jacksonville with not only educational experiences but seasonal movies, exciting laser shows and 3-D Cosmic Concerts in high def that are guaranteed to rock your socks off.