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Narrated by Robert Redford

Cosmic Collisions

Cosmic Collisions

From subatomic particles to the largest galaxies, cosmic collisions are a universal force of nature. Creative and also destructive, dynamic and dazzling, collisions have resulted in many things we take for granted – the luminescent Moon, the Sun’s warmth and light, our changing seasons, waves washing up on a sandy shore, They’ve ended the Age of Dinosaurs and changed the very map of the cosmos, reforming galaxies and giving birth to new stars and new worlds. Cosmic Collisions, the third Space Show produced by the American Museum of Natural History, provides an unprecedented and extraordinary view of these events – both catastrophic and constructive – that have shaped out world and our universe.

Cosmic Collisions was developed by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in collaboration with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science; GOTO, Inc., Tokyo, Japan; and the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, China.

Cosmic Collisions was developed by the American Museum of Natural History with the major support and partnership of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Science Missions Directorate, Heliophysics Division.

July 3, 2016

Select a Date to View

One World One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure

Sunday, July 3, 2016
10:00 am

Explore the night sky with your favorite friends from Sesame Street in One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure. Follow along with Big Bird, Elmo and their friend from China, Hu Hu Zhu, as they take you on a journey of discovery to learn about the Big Dipper, the North Star, the Sun and the Moon. Running time, 25 minutes.

One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure was created as part of a global partnership between the Adler Planetarium; Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street; the Beijing Planetarium; and the Liberty Science Center (Jersey City, NJ).

Sea Monsters

Sunday, July 3, 2016
11:00 am

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure

Sea Monsters will transport you 82 million years back in time to the Cretaceous period when an extraordinary diversity of marine life populated vast ocean waters. Over the millennia, changes in Earth’s climate and geography have left ancient seabeds dry, revealing fossil evidence of this extraordinary—yet little known—time. In Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure, the scientific process comes alive as discoveries from around the world are woven together to reconstruct the complex puzzle of this prehistoric world.

Narrated by Liev Schreiber, 40 min.

Current Night Sky - Space Lab

Sunday, July 3, 2016
12:00 pm

Our educator led, interactive, full dome programs utilize Uniview, a visualization and simulation software aimed at presenting and teaching astronomy, astrophysics and earth sciences. Our full dome theater is a large-scale immersive environment, featuring realtime digital planetarium, and large-format cinema.

Current Night Sky
Long before television, GPS, and street lights there were the stars of the night sky. Visitors will travel through the seasonal night sky to learn about constellations, hear mythical stories and observe the magnificent Long Island sky.

Living in the Age of Airplanes

Sunday, July 3, 2016
1:00 pm

Living in the Age of Airplanes is a story about how the airplane has changed the world. Filmed in 18 countries across all 7 continents, it renews our appreciation for one of the most extraordinary and awe-inspiring aspects of the modern world.

Living in the Age of Airplanes is narrated by actor and pilot Harrison Ford and features an original score by Academy Award®-winning composer and pilot James Horner (Avatar, Titanic). The film was shot in 95 locations around the globe, from remote places like the South Pole and the Maldives to historically significant sites of ancient civilizations. The narrative weaves together the profound ways that aviation has transformed our lives, connecting countries and cultures while expanding horizons and minds.

Journey to Space

Sunday, July 3, 2016
2:00 pm

Narrated by Patrick Stewart.

In the past half century, humans have punched through the stratosphere, walked on the moon, and lived continuously in orbit. In the coming decades, our unquenchable curiosity will take our species beyond the cradle of Earth to touch the face of another world. Strap in for the next giant leap. Next stop … Mars!

Space Junk

Sunday, July 3, 2016
3:00 pm

"After half a century of space exploration we're now suddenly faced with what has long been a staple of science fiction -- an orbiting junkyard of cast-off space debris."

With media headlines repeatedly warning us of debris falling from the skies, orbital debris, or "space junk," has finally risen to the forefront of social consciousness. But what is space junk? How did it get there? Just how big (and serious) is the problem?

"Space Junk," narrated by Academy Award® Nominee Tom Wilkinson, is the first movie to explore the exponentially expanding ring of debris that threatens the safety of our planet's orbits. Harnessing the magical imagery the Full Dome Digital Theater, Director Melissa Butts takes us soaring -- from the stunning depths of Meteor Crater to an unprecedented view of our increasingly crowded orbits, 22,000 miles above earth.

On-screen, Don Kessler, (ret.) Head of NASA's Orbital Debris Office and the "Father of Space Junk," reaches back to the beginning of our solar system for understanding and guides us through the challenges we face in protecting our orbits for the future. At risk is the future of space exploration and the safety of the extensive satellite network that powers our modern day communication systems. This visually explosive journey of discovery weighs the solutions aimed at restoring Earth's orbits.

Stunning images transport the viewers by wrapping us in star fields and allowing us to witness massive collisions in space -- both natural and man-made -- as though we were in the center of the action.

Mysteries of the Unseen World

Sunday, July 3, 2016
4:00 pm

MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD will transport audiences to places on this planet that they have never been before, to see things that are beyond their normal vision, yet literally right in front of their eyes.

Mysteries of the Unseen World will reveal phenomena that can't be seen with the naked eye, taking audiences into earthly worlds secreted away in different dimensions of time and scale.

Viewers will experience events that unfold too slowly for human perception; they will "see" the beauty, drama, and even humor of phenomena of that occur in the flash of a microsecond; they will enter the microscopic world that was once reserved only for scientists, but that Mysteries of the Unseen World makes accessible to the rest of us; they will begin to understand that what we actually see is only a fraction of what there is TO see on this Earth.

High-speed and time-lapse photography, electron microscopy, and nanotechnology are just a few of the advancements in science that now allow us to see a whole new universe of things, events, creatures, and processes we never even knew existed and now give us new "super powers" to see beyond what is in front of us.

Visually stunning and rooted in cutting-edge research, Mysteries of the Unseen World will leave audiences in complete thrall as they begin to understand the enormity of the world they can't see, a world that exists in the air they breathe, on their own bodies, and in all of the events that occur around them minute-by-minute, and nanosecond-by-nanosecond. And with this understanding comes a new appreciation of the wonder and possibilities of science.