Zoocap

What’s the top place for families to visit in New York City?  It might not surprise you to learn it’s the American Museum of Natural History, but it may surprise you to know that by going inside this building, you’ll find out more than you ever thought possible about what’s going on outside the building…  way outside the building.  Right now, on a daily basis, the museum is showing a planetarium space show just about every half hour, titled, Journey to the Stars.

This program has been running for about six months now, so it’s fairly recent, and it’s hosted by Academy-Award winning actress and narrator, Whoopi Goldberg.  The show draws on images from ground and space telescopes, allowing us to simulate images that have never been witnessed before.  Guests will find out what it’s like for stars to be born and to die, and it includes what will one day happen to our own sun billions of years from now (long after we’ve found a way to leave this planet, I’m thinking).  The museum’s astrophysicists and NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration), as well as forty scientists across the world have helped to create this exhibit, and if you don’t know that much about the sky and what’s beyond our atmosphere, you’ll find out a great deal in a hurry.

The show was written by a winner of an Emmy, an author and composer of over a hundred and fifty scripts and books aimed at kids and adults alike.  Her name is Louise A. Gikow, and the chances are good you’ve already seen her work, because she’s written for the Jim Henson Company and Nickelodeon, and, even for the National Lampoon magazine.  She also wrote the last script for the planetarium show here called Cosmic Collisions.

Of course, once you’ve finished taking in the night sky, you’ll want a place to contemplate the universe, and that may be find in any number of places in New York in hotels that are big or small, you’ll find a comfortable place to come inside and contemplate this exhibit and what it’s really like in the Great Outdoors.

Kyle loved to watch the night sky. His passion for astronomy began as a young boy when his grandfather first taught him to tell time by the positioning of the stars and the moon and possibly if could see them the planets Jupiter and Mars. Of course it was the stars that were used to tell the time though the planets and moon had plenty of stories attached to them and Kyle’s grandfather told him a new one every time they were able to stand under those eternal time keepers.
When Kyle was twenty he was out with some friends when he noticed what a clear sky it was and how many of the constellations he could make out. A young woman named Jaime happened to be along that night and Kyle decided he would try and impress her. He was about to announce that he would tell the time by the stars when he noticed that his hand was finally the right size to do so. His grandfather had told him that an average sized adult male fist equaled approximately 20 degrees in the sky. Kyle’s plan worked and Jaime was duly impressed. That was the beginning of a great romance between the two and in it’s early development phase they would frequently look at the stars and Kyle taught Jaime many of the constellations.
Meanwhile, that was three years ago and the two of them rarely went out star gazing these days. Jaime and her roommates recently purchased one of the models of portable spas and she planned to have special evening with Kyle there while her roommates would be gone. It was an incredible evening and the two of them enjoyed a nice meal Jaime cooked herself before retiring to the hot tub. While they soaked Kyle looked up and noticed how clear the sky was. That brought back instant memories and pointed out the constellation of Orion to Jaime. They both reminisced about the early days and Kyle was suddenly struck with the desire to propose marriage. Jaime laughed and said it was typical for him to try and impress her under the stars. She also said yes, she would marry him.