Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics
Traveling exhibit
Opened June 2002
Cosmic Questions itinerary

What is the universe like? Was there a beginning to time? How do we fit in to the cosmos? Questions like these, at the heart of the 5,000 sq. ft. traveling exhibition Cosmic Questions: Our Place in Space and Time, invite visitors to explore their own connections to the universe, find out the latest on unsolved mysteries such as black holes and the existence of extraterrestrial life, and discover what it’s like to be an astronomer uncovering clues from the cosmos hidden in the faint light of distant galaxies. The result is a highly visitor-friendly exhibition about extremely complex and difficult subject.

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Highlights include an 8-minute object theater presentation, a video fly-through of a computer model of the universe, a cosmic ray cloud chamber, tactile models of the Milky Way galaxy and alternate theories of the shape of space-time, and a mini-theater in which spectacular visual imagery creates a quiet space for personal reflection. Visitors can use a spectrometer to explore a simulated star field, move an infrared camera over a wall of objects that transmit and reflect infrared radiation, and take Quick-Time VR tours of the Mauna Kea observatory and the space-based Chandra telescope’s control room, “interviewing” astronomers and others who work there.