American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

Rose Center for Earth and Space. Scales of the Universe (Exhibit); Scales of the Universe
birth: 2000
death: present
Permanent exhibition. Opened February 19, 2000. Located on Floor 2, Section 18. The Rose Center for Earth and Space's Scales of the Universe at the American Museum of Natural History is displayed along the 400-foot walkway that hugs the glass cube wall of the Rose Center and surrounds the 87-foot-diameter Hayden Sphere. The exhibition explores the vast scale of the cosmos. Stations introduce visitors to increments by the power of 10 to relative sizes of atoms, planets, stars, and galaxies using panels with texts, interactives, rail-mounted models, and models of planets, stars, and galaxies suspended from the ceiling with the Hayden Sphere serving as a central reference for relative sizes. The exhibit features realistically rendered planets including a 9-foot diameter model of Jupiter and a model of Saturn with rings 17 feet in diameter (1, 2001, p. 39; 2; 3, 2000, p. 14).
The Rose Center, via Scales of the Universe exhibit, was central in the debate in both the astrophysics community and the American public over Pluto's demotion from planet to dwarf planet. The curators chose to group Pluto with the icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt as opposed to a terrestrial or gas giant planet (4, 2001).
Additional information can be found in the main record for the Rose Center for Earth and Space linked on this record under Relations.