Event 3: The Griffith Observatory

The third event I went was the show "Centered in the Universe" at the Griffith Observatory.

Let's first take a look at the beautiful night view at the Griffith Observatory. It is a very famous place at Los Angeles to look down the whole city view.

 

After entered the Griffith Observatory, the beautiful painting on the ceiling caught my eyes. Although the observatory is an astronomic exhibition hall, we can still see the artistic atmosphere here, which reminds me of the "two cultures".

The show was played at the Samuel Oschin Planetarium, where we sat down at an inclined seat so we could look up to see the screen that was on the ceiling. The show was an all dome digital animation which the 3D effect made us to observe the sky and the star like they were really up there. The show opened with a glorious sunset projected by the Digistar 3 digital laser projection system and transform into the most gorgeous and most accurate vault full of stars. The storyteller told us that people were always using their imagination to fill the sky with stories that explained the cycle of days and nights, the cycling of stars, and the wandering of planets. 

I was really fascinated by the astronomic animation and the 3D effect, which I felt I was traveling in the space. The show combined space, art, advanced 3D technology, and science that closely related our class topic. Compared to the glorious space, I felt myself very negligible, however, human's intelligence and braveness made us get closer and closer to the space. I really recommend my classmates to go and definitely watch the show "Centered in the Universe."

Citations:

"Centered in the Universe." Griffith Observatory. Web. 13 November 2013. http://www.griffithobservatory.org/buildingfiles/bcentered.html

 Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-25. Web. 13 November 2013.

 Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.

 "Centered in the Universe." Web. http://www.griffithobservatory.org/exhibits/exhibitimages/centered1.jpg

 Sandquist, Eric. "Animations of Astronomy 101." Web. 13 November 2013.  http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/faculty/erics/teach/animations.html