Recent Stories with tag pacific science center

Oh hello, nerds. Can't wait another two and half months for your precious Tron sequel? You're in luck, as on October 28th, Disney is hosting Tron Night all over the country (and even internationally), in which devoted geeks can briefly leave their mothers' basements stop playing WoW excitedly stand in line see twenty minutes of the new Tron film. (20th Century Fox did something similar for Avatar last year, which definitely served to boost the hype.) 

Locally, there's five Seattle-area IMAX theaters where you can catch the Tron Legacy sneak peek: Lincoln Square, Alderwood, Southcenter, Thornton Place, and Pacific Science Center. As of right now, it looks like free tickets are still available for all five locations. Have at it, nerds.

• Hubble 3D plays at the Pacific Science Center's Boeing IMAX Theater through at least June 11.

How good could Hubble 3D be, I asked myself? I don't think I could have imagined it, beforehand. I just had a niggling interest in seeing those cool galactic photos on a big, big screen. But just think how good a film called something really sexy like Hubble has to be to win a weekend-average against the cineplex offerings. Which it did last weekend, says the Baltimore Sun:

...the best news may be that the highest per-screen average for last weekend ($9,146 per theater) belongs to Hubble 3D, Toni Myers’ eye-popping, mind-enlarging IMAX 3-D documentary about the final servicing mission to the Hubble orbiting space telescope.

That is the 43-minute story: After a brief introduction to telescopes (Hey, it's for the kids!), the film traces the life of the Hubble, from its initial launch into space, to the discovery of its blurred vision, and subsequent repair attempts...and more repair attempts. The "present day" takes up with NASA's final attempt to upgrade Hubble in 2009--and a 3D IMAX camera comes along for the ride.

You visit with astronauts prepping for the task in a 6-million gallon pool (that simulates weightlessness) containing a replica of a shuttle payload bay and the Hubble. It's like an outtake from The Abyss, but with better lighting. You're up on the gantry when the visibly worn Atlantis shuttle takes off. You watch from a camera outside the shuttle as the rocket boosters disengage and fall away. You suddenly develop vertigo during a 3D spacewalk; helmet cams show their tussle with a stuck bolt. Inside, it's like how many astronauts can you fit in a phone booth. Trips to the bathroom, an astronaut says, waggling a vacuum hose, rely on the power of suction.... (more)

In this SunBreak Flickr pool photo from Nareshe, the International Fountain at Seattle Center looks like some sort of water-spurting alien ship.  Spooky, scary, boys becoming men, fountains becoming spacecraft.