Popular Iowa Museum Opening New Hubble Space Exhibit

The Putnam Museum and Science Center is hosting a traveling exhibit from NASA, Hubble Telescope: New Views of the Universe. The exhibit will be open from Saturday, November 9th through Sunday, January 26th.

The immersive exhibit, created in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute’s Traveling Exhibit team, is constantly updated with the newest imagery and technology coming from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes.

Throughout the exhibit are multiple hands-on interactives which offer guests a way to experience components of the telescopes, reveal the inter-workings, and see the magnificent images of stars, galaxies, and planets that have been collected.

Alongside information on the various tools in the telescopes, visitors will learn about the hurdles astronauts have overcome during the construction and servicing of the telescopes and their satellites.

Kelly Lao, Vice President of Museum Experiences, said, “We’re so excited to bring this exhibit from NASA into our community. We hope to inspire the next generation towards STEM careers while providing a fun, immersive experience for the entire family.”

When entering the exhibit hall, guests walk through a dome made from screens displaying images from the telescopes. From there, they will find interactive exhibit stations that discuss thermal protection, solar power, and light wavelengths. In the middle of exhibit is a scale model of the Hubble Telescope.

Circling around the model is information on the size, operations, what makes the Hubble different from observatories on land, and massive images from the telescope. Each massive image station includes panels on the role of the subjects in space with the importance of the telescope’s findings.

Sticking with the astronomical theme, the Putnam Museum will also be showing Space: A New Frontier in the GIANT Screen Theater on a regular basis while the exhibit is open. This short documentary, narrated by Chris Pine, details the current projects facing astronauts and engineers for the next phase of space exploration.