OUR STAR New York City's American Museum of Natural History is showing Journey to the Stars at its Hayden Planetarium. Making the film was international effort, with leading astrophysics groups around the globe contributing the computer simulations derived from observational data.
Image: © AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
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As moviegoers make plans to watch summer blockbusters this weekend, there is an additional choice for New Yorkers: Journey to the Stars, the new space show opening July 4 at the Hayden Planetarium in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Rose Center for Earth and Space.
Aside from the three years of planning and 18 months spent making the film, what's special about Journey to the Stars is the international effort that went into producing it, with leading astrophysics groups around the globe contributing the computer simulations derived from observational data. These simulations help scientists gain insight into faraway objects and events—a collision of galaxies, the progression of a supernova explosion, the formation of a planetary system—that they cannot see firsthand.
During its 23-minute running time, the film seeks to capture the entire history of the universe by focusing on stars.
Mordecai-Mark Mac Low and Ben Oppenheimer, resident astrophysicists at AMNH and the co-curators of the show, present a collection of convincing simulations that offer the viewer a state-of-the-art demonstration of astrophysics. "We want people to understand their origins and life-support system," Mac Low says, "and to look at the night sky with a new sense of its depth and variety."
One highlight is a simulation of the interior of the sun, showing its convection and churning magnetic field. The demo came courtesy of Juri Toomre's group at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and required about 14 million hours of supercomputer time spread across four major U.S. supercomputing centers. Hundreds of billions of bytes of data were processed, all of which went into the visualization of the solar interior.
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6 Comments
Add CommentWow, can't wait to see it!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou mentioned "14 million hours of supercomputer time". That number seems improbably high.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSay they had 100 supercomputers working for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - that's still under a million (876,000 hours). To hit the 14 million mark, you need, like 15 years. That seems bizzare. Can you clarify?
To hit the 14 million cpu hour mark, you need about 2000 processors operating continuously for about 300 days.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have just discovered this amazing documentary called Moonwalk One-The Directors Cut that was initially filmed in 1969. It is an amazing account of the Apollo 11 space mission in which man first walked on the moon! Not only does it capture the scientific accomplishments, but it also serves as an outstanding time capsule of society at the time and their reactions!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisForty years later, it turns out that the original director, Theo Kamecke, has the only pristine copy of the original 35mm film. Never before released to the public for home viewing, the film has been restored to a spectacular high-definition wide screen masterpiece with an all new soundtrack!
Make sure to get your copy in time for the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon! I got my copy at www.amazon.com, and you can also orider it at ww.co.uk and www.moonwalk.com. This is a great film for students, teachers, enthusiasts, families, and more. No matter your interest, this film will not be a bore!
Best wishes,
Lauren
I have just discovered this amazing documentary called Moonwalk One-The Director’s Cut that was initially filmed in 1969. It is an amazing account of the Apollo 11 space mission in which man first walked on the moon! Not only does it capture the scientific accomplishments, but it also serves as an outstanding time capsule of society at the time and their reactions!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisForty years later, it turns out that the original director, Theo Kamecke, has the only pristine copy of the original 35mm film. Never before released to the public for home viewing, the film has been restored to a spectacular high-definition wide screen masterpiece with an all new soundtrack!
Make sure to get your copy in time for the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon! I got my copy at www.amazon.com, and you can also orider it at ww.co.uk and www.moonwalk.com. This is a great film for students, teachers, enthusiasts, families, and more. No matter your interest, this film will not be a bore!
Best wishes,
Lauren
The visit to Hayden planetarium was a fantastic experience for the entire family. I have a new found interest in the world we live in after visiting the planetarium. The Cosmic Collisions show is a must see. Some of the telescopes and scales in the 'hands on' section were broken, and we were a little disappointed. Overall, I would recommend the Hayden Planetarium as a great fun way to spend the afternoon with the small kids.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.travelamerica360.com/hayden-planetarium-nyc.html