New Exhibition Opens at Museum of Nature and Science - LasCruces.com

The City of Las Cruces Museum System invites you to experience the Museum of Nature and Science in a whole new way. On Friday March 10, 2023, the museum revealed changes to its Light & Space exhibition, including new interactive displays. The new exhibit, titled Hidden No More: Shedding Light on Science Stories in the Shadows is set to run indefinitely, but you’re encouraged to see it for yourself while it’s still piping fresh.

What It’s About

The interactive components of Hidden No More focus on exploring the connection between light and color, and on illuminating the work of two featured scientists: Kamal al-Din al Farisi and Mercedes Lopez-Morales through hands-on exploration.

Kamal al-Din al-Farisi (1260-1320) was the first to propose a mathematically acceptable theory of how rainbows are formed. Before him, the accepted thought was that light from the sun was reflected by a cloud before reaching the eye. Al-Farisi proposed that light from the sun was refracted twice by a water droplet, with one or more reflections taking place inside the droplet, before reaching the eye.

Mercedes López Morales is a Spanish American astrophysicist at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on the detection and characterization of exoplanet (planets outside of our Solar System) atmospheres and detecting Earth-like planets in other planetary systems.

How The Exhibition Was Created

Hidden No More: Shedding Light on Science Stories in the Shadows was produced by the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center with support from the National Science Foundation as part of the Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program. The exhibition helps bridge gaps in representation by including simulations of historical scientific experiments enacted by little-known scientists of color.

These include virtual reality encounters that immerse participants in the scientists’ discovery process, and other content that allows visitors to interact with the exhibits and explore the exhibits’ themes. The exhibit consists of short documentary and animated films, virtual reality experiences, interactive “photobooths,” and technology-based inquiry activities.

The Museum of Nature and Science – located at 411 N. Main Street in downtown Las Cruces – is one of six Teen Science Café National Network members to receive Hidden No More across the country. Hours for the museum are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., and Saturdays, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. For more information on Hidden No More, along with the many other exhibitions and programs offered by the Museum of Nature and Science, visit the website.

Posted by LasCruces.com

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