Downtown Mobile’s Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center has gone interstellar for the summer of 2011, packing Government Street’s science museum with a slate of space-themed exhibitions and theater shows running through August 28.
The headline exhibition is Black Holes: Space Warps & Time Twists, produced by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which lets visitors explore the physics of the universe’s most mysterious objects. Alongside it runs From Earth to the Universe, a collection of astronomical images assembled with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
Stars Over Alabama and the Digital Theater
Beginning June 4, the Exploreum’s Hearin-Chandler Virtual Journeys Digital Theater adds its own lineup of cosmic journeys. The theater projects onto an enormous wraparound screen — described by the museum as the size of an 18-wheeler — using high-end graphics hardware and a triple Galaxy Warp Display synchronized with specialty lighting. Shows run about 40 minutes and are offered to school groups and the general public for $2 per person.
Two shows anchor the summer schedule: Stars Over Alabama, a tour of the constellations visible in the summer sky over the state, and Solar System Adventure, a virtual flight past the planets.
Hours and Tickets
The exhibition package runs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults 10 to 59, $11 for youth 13 to 18 and seniors 60 and older, and $10 for children, with combo tickets that include an IMAX film also available.