Experience wonders of the cosmos at Macon museum

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Traveling Exhibit: New Views of the Universe has opened at the Museum of Arts and Sciences and runs for an extended period until Oct. 17 when it closes with special events featuring former NASA astronaut Joan Higginbotham.

Until then, you can fill your eyes with the wonders of the cosmos via Hubble’s remarkable photographic imagery and literally put your hands on space-age technology.

It’s a marriage of art and science the museum was made for.

“The Hubble Space Telescope exhibit was designed by NASA to highlight the science but also features stunning imagery of our universe from Hubble’s unique vantage point,” museum executive director Susan Welsh said. “It changed our understanding of the universe. I think a lot of people forget Hubble is now 34 years into its still-active mission capturing remarkable phenomena.”

In 2022, NASA launched another extraterrestrial telescope, the Webb Space Telescope, which serves a different purpose than Hubble by pursuing different light-spectrums enabling the capture of dimmer and more distant space phenomena. NASA has yet to create a Webb exhibit, so its information and photographic results are included in the Hubble display.

“There’s a lot of competition for the Hubble exhibit so we’re proud to host it for an extended period,” Welsh said. “That’s due in part to the unique nature of our combined arts and sciences emphasis and the fact we’re the only local museum to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums with its demanding commitment to service and best practices.”

Welsh said families can easily spend an hour or more exploring the different aspects of the entire exhibit. There are dozens of hands-on exploration stations, video and static informational spots and arrays of breathtaking imagery that are literally out of this world.

“At its core, the exhibit is perfectly in line with the museum’s mission to evoke wonder, stimulate curiosity and instill a desire for life-long learning with an open mind to new worlds of discovery,” Welsh said.

There’s time to see the exhibit several times before it closes on Oct. 17 when the museum will bring former NASA astronaut Joan Higginbotham to town to visit several schools and speak at the museum. But don’t put it off and miss visiting the exhibit as it fills the museum’s largest gallery space.

And, of course, that’s not all the museum has to offer.

Other Museum Events

• Saturday is the annual Reptile Day at the museum from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. “We have many family fun days at the museum through the year featuring raptors and birds and other things, plus we have ongoing reptile exhibits and shows, but this is the big day for reptiles and is very popular,” Welsh said. “On Saturday, we’ll have guest specialists from Southeastern Reptile Rescue doing talks and demonstrations. It’s the only time we have venomous reptiles in addition to our own non-venomous reptiles. It’s just one of the special events designed to leverage the wildlife preservation and conversation aspects of the museum.”
• UNDONE is a current gallery art exhibit at the museum on display until Oct. 5. While the Hubble exhibit looks outward, works by textile artists Blake and Hannah March Sanders are billed as looking inward to explore the lasting viability of Earth and humanity’s threat to it due to over-consumption, pollution, ecological waste and destruction. Their improvisational crochet art installation is inspired by Middle Georgia’s own unique geological and economic history with references to the primordial inland sea, kaolin and timber industries and the impact of creosote manufacturing. It considers the complexity of our contemporary human experience with awareness of urgent environmental concerns.
• After seeing the Hubble exhibit, you’ll no doubt be inspired to take in a show at the museum’s Mark Smith Planetarium during its regular schedule. Shows are Tuesday through Saturday at 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Themed shows are changed regularly and children under 3 are not be permitted in the planetarium.
• A mention of just a handful of the museum’s regular, ongoing features and activities include the fall scarecrow exhibit with scarecrows created by area groups displayed along a museum trail; picnics on the grounds; raptor shows and community concerts at the museum’s amphitheater; walks along the Sweet Gum and other trails and paths; live animal shows; STEAM family labs; the Discovery House featuring three floors of interactive exhibits exploring art, science and the humanities where kids and adults can visit a mini-zoo, create art and participate in many unique, fun and educational activities; a walk through the “bat cave” and more – much more – including ongoing updates, expansions and remodels at the museum such as a re-imagining and remodeling of the Discovery House coming next year.

The Museum of Arts and Sciences is located at 4182 Forsyth Road Begun in 1956 in a basement at Wesleyan College, the museum has expanded ever since moving to its Forsyth Road location in 1964 and adding the planetarium a year later. A 1980 addition saw the addition of much of the museum’s current infrastructure with the Discovery House, lobby and classrooms added in 2001.

The museum is supported through private investments, public funding and tiered memberships with individual memberships at $35 a year with discounts lower and patron support at higher levels. Daily admission is free to members and children under 3 and is $10 for adults. Admission for children 3-17 is $5. There are discounts for seniors, military and students with ID. Parking is free and plenteous.

As a rule, special museum activities, planetarium shows and the like are also always free to members.

Keep track of the museum at www.masmacon.org, www.instagram.com/masmacon and www.facebook.com/masmacon.