Compare And Contrast Smithsonian Museum Vs American Museum
1224 Words5 Pages
Courtnie Warren
Professor Meagan Donelson
English 1010
02 October 2015
The American Museum of Natural History vs The Smithsonian Museum
The two museums that I have chosen to write about are the Smithsonian and the American Museum of Natural History. The Smithsonian has several different exhibits across the US with a total of nineteen museums and one zoo, whereas the American Museum of Natural History simply has one museum. Despite only having one museum, the American Museum of Natural History offers a wide variety of online activities such as games, online courses, and many insightful articles about their research. Although the Smithsonian seems to outweigh the American Museum of Natural History with the exhibits that they offer, I still…show more content… The American Museum of Natural History website gives a detailed and compelling description of this planetarium, “The 429-seat Space Theater, which features a custom-made Zeiss Mark IX Star Projector and a Digital Dome Projection System to display a hyperrealistic view of the planets, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, uses a scientifically accurate 3D map of the observable universe based on millions of astronomical observations. Known as the Digital Universe Atlas, this map of the cosmos is maintained by a team of Museum scientists and visualization experts in collaboration with colleagues from organizations such as NASA. The Digital Universe Atlas also provides the foundation for the Museum’s Space Shows, which are screened in the Space Theater.” (Hayden Planetarium) Growing up, I had always been an astronomy buff so after reading about the Hayden Planetarium’s informative displays on astronomy, I found reason enough for me to want to visit this planetarium in the future. In contrast, the Smithsonian Albert Einstein Planetarium, located at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum advertises a “77-Foot digital dome…the only full-dome cinema in D.C.” (IMAX) “The Einstein Planetarium is a domed theater that uses digital technology to provide…show more content… The overall user friendly design and ease of finding information on the exhibits that I was searching for certainly aided in my decision of why I appreciated this museum over the Smithsonian, however, I also felt that the American Museum of Natural History website better portrayed their exhibits in an exciting, interactive light, encouraging my curiosity for how the physical museum would be-since I found their website to be fascinating and