Astronomy & Space Sciences

Aeolian Landscape

Aeolian Landscape presents a swirling storm of sand inside a large chamber covered by a plexiglass top. A knob on the top of the exhibit rotates a sturdy fan set in the base of the chamber.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Braided Stream

Air—not water—erupts through fine powder to sculpt these roiling streams.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Cloud Chamber

Look down into the chamber and you’ll see an ongoing cascade of thin white trails appearing and disappearing. These are cosmic ray tracks, created by high-energy subatomic particles from space.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Fluvial Storm

Swirling water sculpts elaborate patterns of underwater dunes.

Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.

Geysers

The timing of the eruptions of these geysers depends on water temperature and pressure.

Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems

Icy Bodies

Like comets, these chunks of dry ice slowly disintegrate as they move, leaving a visible trail of condensed water vapor.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Inverse Square Law

Light gets dimmer the farther it travels–and a bit of simple math explains how.

Where: Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Oculus Table introduces a contemporary twist on a common ancient Greek sundial, the scaphe (σκάφη or "bowl"). With sunlight streaming through the oculus—the hole in the ceiling of the Fisher Bay Observatory—the movable table can be visually aligned with landmarks on the skyline (Coit Tower, Transamerica Pyramid, etc.) to discover the Sun's position in the sky and the current time and date.

Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes