REBOOT YOUR SENSES AT TXMOST
MARQ NOTES: This "start-up" science museum is on the southwest side of Austin--a large city that lacks a quality science center. That has been the mission of executive director Torvald Hessel for more than a decade, and his efforts with many others has come to this adequate facility with an impressive little planetarium built by Full Dome. The planetarium show is worth the price of admission, and there is plenty of science to experience in a super clean, spacious yet inviting atmosphere. The best years are ahead for this quaint science museum that will certainly become a magnet for the inquisitive minds of the Austin area.
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| MARQ PLAYING AT TXMOST |
Stories and Photos By
Mark D. Marquette
You tune up your car and maybe your
guitar or piano. But how about a tune-up of your senses?
A perfect place to work your eyes, ears,
hands and sometimes your nose is the Texas Museum of Science & Technology
(TXMOST) in Cedar Park on the northwest side of Austin.
Easy to find off East Whitestone Blvd at
1220 Toro Grande Drive, there are plenty of hands on exhibits of experiments at
TXMOST, as well as a fabulous small planetarium to show the night sky and short
educational movies about all things spacey.
Science centers are a great place to
reboot one’s senses. But look around the metropolis of Austin and one is
hard-pressed to find a science museum. Because there isn’t one outside the
learning halls of academia.
And that has been a decades-long mission
of Torvald Hessel, executive director of TXMOST, a professional astronomer and
science educator.
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| Torvald Hessel, TXMOST executive director |
“I’m among a group of people eager to
bring a nationally-renowned public science facility to Central Texas, said
Hessel. “Our current exhibitions in a
start-up space is just a glimpse of what’s to come.”
Welcomed by Cedar Park when a 30,000-square-foot
building was leased for five years in March 2015, the first six month saw
60,000 people experience the popular “Body Worlds” exhibit that featured
anatomical cadavers of the human body.
“We’re growing, and we’re off to a great
start,” said Hessel. “People are discovering we exist, and new exhibits are
already in the works.”
TXMOST’s mission is to stimulate an
awareness, understanding and participation through real-life demonstrations of
the rewards from engineering, math, science and technology.
“Everybody on our staff is incredibly
talented in their science field and very dedicated to TXMOST,” said Hessel. “We
all believe that a strong appreciation and education of science makes for a
better society.”
The 2016 TXMOST year opens with 30 hands-on
science interactive exhibits that can fool your eyes, tingle your ears and
allow you to carry on a conversation in a whisper with someone 80-feet away.
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| MarQ photo |
TXMOST is the reinvention of the Friends
of Austin Planetarium, known for the past 13 years as Austin Planetarium that
brings a portable star show to schools, scouts and even social events. Now, the
science center has a permanent planetarium that has a show every hour as part
of the admission price.
The Larry K. Forrest Memorial Planetarium
is a cutting edge concept in space education that has eight projectors, a
powerful computer and many high-production educational programs with amazing
animation.
The portable planetarium is still a part
of TXMOST, and education director Lucia Brimer says the experience is always a
big hit.
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| Bobby Damiano, planetarian, and Lucia Brimer, education director |
“Kids just love it. And adults love it,” said Brimer, a
Harvard-trained astronomer. “You hear the kids go ‘Wow!’ when the lights go
down. And when the program is over, they don’t want you to leave.”
That’s the mesmerizing effect of good
science education, and TXMOST is blessed with a staff of real scientists and
lots of amateur astronomers.
“If you’ve been here once and like it,
come back as we will constantly be changing,” said Brimer. “We’re here to serve
the public.”
The goal is to build a permanent museum
in the Austin area, one that will eventually attract the premier science
exhibits that tour the world.
“We want to become your community science
museum,” said TXMOST executive director Hessel.
“We are here to serve the public and welcome community input.”
Future public events will include
stargazing in the parking lot and private events like a day camp and overnights
with scouts.
“Education is our main goal,” said
Hessel. “We want guests no matter what
age to leave TXMOST feeling they have learned something and that it was
fun. And maybe instilling sense of
wonder and curiosity for more.”
Exhibits that are on the way for 2016
include a Nikon show of microscope photography. And it is a goal of the science
center to acquire the biggest draw of any museum—dinosaurs!
The TXMOST staff are in negotiations to
bring a substantial dinosaur collection to Austin. That will keep the public’s
interest at a high level as nearly everyone loves looking at dinosaurs.
The current exhibit of science
interactives is a partnership with the Exploratorium, an internationally
recognized science center in San Francisco.
Concepts of sound, light and energy are demonstrated in simple,
easy-to-understand experiment stations.
Want to play with colors and see why the
sky is blue and a sunset red? You can play with prisms and colored filters to
answer those questions.
Or how about a “Soundscope” chamber where
you guess the location of everyday sounds? That’s a cool experiment as you
listen to a short recording of some familiar place, like a restaurant, and try
to guess the location. There’s even a
“hint” button to push.
There are demonstrations of how the body
produces energy, how sound waves move and ways energy is stored for transfer to
devices.
One interesting “low-tech” demonstration
has one person sitting inside a half-sphere and another person facing them 80
feet away in an identical half-sphere.
The two people can quietly carry on a conversation because of the
dynamics of soundwaves being shaped by the “parabolic” spheres, projecting the
voices far across the room.
The planetarium is one constant fixture at
TXMOST, and visitors will be impressed with the comfort and visually
stimulating programs presented by staff astronomers. From shows aimed at children to some
mind-bending visuals explaining black holes, the programs are stunning in
appearance and professional in production, and outstanding in educational
value.
The giant, gray planetarium is an 8-foot
tall dome that is 33-feet wide and decorated with an attractive astronomy
motif. Looking larger once inside,
comfortable lounge chairs greet the stargazers and a modest console has the
resident astronomer at the controls. Questions
are always welcome.
One bit of space memorabilia on hand is a
signed poster by Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise Jr. who gave his “Best Wishes”
to the success of TXMOST.
The appropriate voice exhibits have
Hispanic. The restrooms are large and clean, and available are drinks and
snacks. A souvenir section includes science experiment kits, 3-D artwork of
space objects and stuffed animals.
TXMOST has a six-member board of directors
that include a strong mix of individuals who are community leaders, educators
and business executives—all with a keen interest in the sciences.
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| MarQ photo |
HOURS: Monday-Thursday 10 am-7 pm
Friday-Saturday
9 am-9
pm
Sunday 11 am-6 pm
ADMISSION:
Includes all exhibits and
planetarium.
One-year and
sustaining memberships are available at different levels to accommodate
individuals to families.
Adults $15
Seniors age 62+ $13
Students/Military with ID $13
Youth ages 13-17 $13
Youth 3-12 $11
Children under age 3 Free
Texas
Museum of Science and Technology
TXMOST
1220
Toro Grande Drive
Cedar
Park, Texas 78613
Phone:
(512) 961-5333
E-mail:
info@txmost.org
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