Shows to come alive at Science Centre's Omni-Theatre with real-time narration

SINGAPORE - Starting this Saturday (May 30), visitors to the Science Centre's Omni-Theatre will get to learn about the earth and outer space from shows narrated in real time by the centre's educators.

This is meant to make the experience more interactive for the audience, who will also be able to ask questions. In the past, such shows ran from start to finish like a regular movie.

There will be three such new interactive shows, each lasting around 30 minutes, with at least one shown daily.

Cosmic Surfing will be about the earth in relation to the universe; Exploring the Planets will take an in-depth look at the earth's neighbouring planets; while What's Up There? will explore the stars, planets and constellation in the skies on the night of the show.

The shows will make use of a new Digistar 5 software, which contains vast astronomical data including those from the American Museum of Natural History and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).

The shows will be screened from a new 8K digital full-dome system - one of the most advanced projection systems in the world.

The Omni-Theatre has been closed since the middle of April to install these two new features, and will officially reopen this Saturday.

Mr Clarence Sirisena, deputy chief executive of the Science Centre Singapore, said research has shown that learning is facilitated by interaction and immersive environments.

He hopes the real-time live astronomy presentations will pique interest in youth, and added that the Science Centre will work with local universities in Singapore to come up with more of such shows, possibly even on topics outside of astronomy.

This article was first published on May 26, 2015.
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