The Buzz Is Real: Liberty Science Center
Watch the World Move in Real-Time Motion
There’s some big buzz these days regarding JC’s beloved Liberty Science Center (LSC). In December of last year, LSC’s Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium opened up in the IMAX Theater space, which was extensively refurbished to serve double duty as the largest Planetarium in the Western Hemisphere (and the 4th largest in the world). Chalsty is a former high school teacher and LSC Board member who donated $5M to create this state-of-the art facility. Besides the signature 45-minute, stunning Planetarium show “Wonders of the Night Sky,” there is a rotating mix of laser shows and immersive films screened on the Dome Theater’s giant wraparound screen.
This month, another exciting project starts up at LSC, The Weston Family Lab for Earth and Space Exploration, located in a glass walled gallery on the second floor of LSC. The learning lab/exhibition area’s first project is Science on a Sphere, a six feet globe suspended in mid-air.
Created by a group of researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this sphere allows for tracking of real-time atmospheric conditions anywhere on Earth, courtesy of images uploaded in real-time from not just NOAA but NASA as well. How’s that for impressive acronyms! LSC STEM instructors will be there in the lab to engage with visitors and explain what exactly they are viewing, which is a lot. Things like tectonic plates moving, sea ice melting, and the formation of volcano, tsunami, tropical and hurricane paths. Not exactly fun stuff, but this project is being touted as an excellent tool to convey to the lay world of non-scientists what is really happening with oceanic and atmospheric pressure.
Stay tuned: SciTech Scity is the next big LSC venture in the works. It is touted to be a campus/community of students, scientists and teachers with a common focus on STEM innovation. There will be the Liberty Science K-12 School, labs, research and conference facilities, and work studios. SciTech Scity’s Scholars Village will provide housing to visiting graduate students and longer-term residencies for scientists, entrepreneurs and their families.
Liberty Science Center, 222 Jersey City Boulevard, 201-200-1000, www.lsc.org