 | Second-grade students from Evarts C. Stevens School in Wallingford study the interactive four-foot-tall globe -- described as the most accurate depiction of the planet ever made -- in the Peabody's new Hall of Minerals, Earth and Space. |
The newest permanent display at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History uses state-of-the-art technology to teach visitors about how closely human survival is linked to the interactions of the Earth's oceans, atmosphere and land masses.
The Hall of Minerals, Earth and Space -- or HoMES, for short -- will open in two phases. The first, launched on May 18, focuses on the Earth and the solar system, geology and earth forces, atmospheres, oceans and climate. The second phase, focusing on gems and minerals, is expected to open in 2007-2008.
HoMES uses high-tech interactive exhibits, dramatic geographic animations and live space mission updates direct from NASA -- as well as the Peabody's renowned meteorite collection, the oldest in the United States -- to show how the Earth and the solar system were formed, what they are composed of and the changes in the Earth's continents, oceans and atmosphere in the past 600 million years.
One of the highlights of the exhibit is a four-foot-tall globe, which the museum describes as the most accurate depiction of the Earth ever made. Using the latest satellite images, the globe allows visitors to call up information about the Earth's tectonic plates, deepest ocean trenches, most active volcanoes, most hazardous earthquake regions and highest mountains.
Another display, dubbed "The Magic Planet," is a digital video globe that shows real-time weather and earthquake information as well as animations displaying the oceans draining, ocean currents, particles in the stratosphere, water vapor, surface temperatures and more. One animation shows how the planet's surface has changed over more than 500 million years. Using the buttons on the screen, visitors can even see what the continents looked like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth in the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic Periods.
Other highlights include:
* A large plasma screen that uses live feed from NASA to report up-to-the-minute discoveries in space as well as large-scale events on Earth. In addition to reporting mission updates from space launches such as the Cassini-Huygens emissary to Saturn, the display includes information on such topics as black holes.
* A 13-foot glass trail, known as a fulgurite, which was created by a lightning bolt when it hit a sandy beach. The lightning heated the sand to at least 2,900°F. Discovered on a Connecticut beach in 1949, it is the longest preserved fulgurite known.
* Interactive segments on such cataclysmic events as the 2004 Asian tsumani. A seismic monitor uses live feed from IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) to identify earthquake activity around the globe.
* A diorama of super-size creatures living in the Carboniferous Period, which illustrates the impact of global change on life. Life-sized models of a dragonfly-like insect with a three-foot wingspan and a five-foot-long millipede-like arthropod illustrate the immense size to which invertebrates grew in the Carboniferous Period several hundred million years ago when atmospheric oxygen levels were much higher than today's.
* A section on "Atmospheres, Oceans and Climates," which uses the latest scientific research to show how the rocks of the continents and ocean basins interact with the Earth's atmosphere and oceans to influence climate-interactions crucial for making the earth habitable for life. This section also explores concerns about present-day global change, including whether human activities or natural causes are driving current environmental changes.
* Meteorites from the Peabody's collections. Among these are the first recorded meteorite to fall in the New World; another that crashed into a house in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1982; rocks from the asteroid Vesta, the Moon and Mars; and a 1,635-pound iron piece found in 1808 in Red River, Texas, which is the largest specimen in the Peabody's collection.
It is hoped that the interactive displays in HoMES will "teach and capture the imagination of museum visitors, particularly young children who might grow up to be scientists themselves," says the exhibit's curator, Jay J. Ague, professor of geology and geophysics and curator of mineralogy at the Peabody.
The Peabody Museum is located at 170 Whitney Ave. It is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors age 65 and over, and $5 for children ages 3-18 and students with I.D. Admission is free for everyone on Thursdays 2-5 p.m. The museum is wheelchair accessible. It will be closed July 4. For further information, visit the website at www.peabody.yale.edu or call the Infotape at (203) 432-5050.
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