Astronomy Exhibits

The Domes of Discovery exhibition includes five interactive exhibits which show various techniques that are used in astronomy, a video and four interactive exhibits about time.

Using a laser beam the Light Paths exhibit shows you how light travels through a telescopes that uses lenses (refracting telescope) and a telescope that uses mirrors (reflecting telescope). There is also an exhibit that allows you to reflect light off a mirror and refract light through a lens. See if you can form the starry image. 

Parallax is an important technique used to measure the distance to nearby stars. Look at a star field and work out how this is done.

Spectroscopy is one of the most important discoveries in astronomy and can be used by astronomers to work out numerous things. For example, what stars are made of, their temperatures, how fast they are moving and whether they are moving away from us or coming towards us (to name just a few). The spectroscopy exhibit shows you the difference between the spectrum produced by an incandescent bulb (like an ordinary light bulb) and a fluourescent tube. 

The globe has a small model of a telescope stuck to it. This telescope is mounted equatorially. By turning the handle to rotate the globe you can see that the telescope still points to the same spot. The telescopes at Herstmonceux were called the equatorial group because of the way they are mounted. This meant that they could track the stars perfectly as the Earth spun on its axis. This was very important for taking long exposure photographs which were analysed in positional astronomy in order to map out the sky and give stars celestial coordinates.

Alongside the interactive astronomy exhibits there are a few exhibits relating to Time, to link in with the importance of TheRoyal Greenwich Observatory to ‘Greenwich Mean Time'.

Brand NEW Constellations Game Exhibit 'Reach for the Stars'

This exhibit has been created using technology that enables a futuristic ‘Minority Report' style interaction where users engage simply with hand and arm movements.

Interpreting the constellations, visitors point to mythical characters and drag them to the correct position in the sky. This style of interface is a major step forward in the scope of exhibit design. Immersive, interactive and intuiative, it provides a unique visitor experience in the world of museum and science centre interactives. The computer interface and software has been written and created in-house by our parent charity Science Projects Ltd, making it easily adaptable to a whole range of subjects.