NASA and New York City Museum Bring Universe Down to Earth (Forwarded)

Erica Hupp/Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington March 15, 2006
(202) 358-1237/1726

Michael Walker
American Museum of Natural History, N.Y.
(212) 769-5766

RELEASE: 06-093

NASA AND NEW YORK CITY MUSEUM BRING UNIVERSE DOWN TO EARTH

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City, in
collaboration with NASA, debuts Cosmic Collisions this week. The
newest planetarium dome show transports audiences through time and
space to view the evolving universe and witness galactic events that
changed the course of life on Earth.

Narrated by actor, director and producer Robert Redford, the
planetarium show incorporates NASA satellite data, cutting-edge
astrophysics research and state-of-the-art supercomputing. The show
features breathtaking life-like animation, images and dramatic
recreations of interstellar events. NASA scientists were involved in
the production of the film providing technical and scientific
expertise.

"This show will provide audiences perspectives on the challenges of
exploring the universe beyond our planet, as we move forward with the
commitment to exploration and discovery in implementing America's
Vision for Space Exploration," said NASA's Chief of Strategic
Communications Joe Davis.

The Vision for Space Exploration is a bold new course into the cosmos,
a journey that will return the space shuttle safely to flight,
complete the construction of the International Space Station, take
humans back to the moon and eventually to Mars and beyond.

Cosmic Collisions presents a view of the universe different from our
everyday experience watching the peaceful night sky. Collisions are
commonplace in space and are understood as a key mechanism in the
evolution of the universe. They are the inevitable result of gravity
pulling together objects such as planets, stars, and galaxies, in
constant motion through space.

The show recreates encounters usually invisible to humankind. Events
unfold over incredibly vast expanses, spanning billions of years and
trillions of miles. Events also occur almost instantaneously on a
subatomic scale as in the collision of protons in the heart of the
sun.

Cosmic Collisions highlights catastrophic planetary impacts and
merging of massive galaxies. The show also outlines the consequences
of the sun's magnetic variability and the incessant barrage of small
ionized particles in the solar wind ricocheting off Earth's magnetic
field creating other worldly conditions called "space weather".

Programs in NASA's Heliophysics Division observe the complex phenomena
associated with space weather by studying and understanding the
fundamental physical processes of the space environment, from the sun
to Earth, to other planets, and beyond to the interstellar medium.
The division also provided funding and scientific coordination for
the show.

"Information compiled within this office not only helps us understand
how our planet's habitability are affected by cosmic events, but also
provides knowledge essential for future human and robotic
exploration," said Richard Fisher, director, Heliophysics Division.

To perform the enormously complex calculations and render the scenes
of interstellar collisions, the space show's production team relied
on an array of graphic workstations, using hundreds of processors to
create the graphic images, and a state-of-the art system to view the
high-resolution graphic images on the Hayden planetarium dome.

For a short preview of Cosmic Collisions on the Web, visit:

http://www.amnh.org/cosmic

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home