Boldly go where no man has gone before, literally! Our Place in Space is the Museum's renovated astronomy gallery. Five astronomy themed areas are sure to engage visitors, allowing for active exploration of Our Place in Space.

The sky is no limit in Looking Beyond the Earth.  Use state-of-the-art computer simulations to examine our closest neighbors and the far reaches of the universe.  The visitor controls this intergalactic journey as they look up from Buffalo or anywhere on the Earth, or even leave the Solar System in the direction of your favorite planet or constellation. 

Out-of-this-world rocks introduce visitors to a meteorite’s history and shed light into what might lie deep in the Earth at Meteorites Encounter Earth.  Among the many hands-on features is a large fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite, which is from Arizona and estimated to have fallen to the Earth between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Ever wonder what the world would look like from space? In Looking at Earth from Space, visitors can sit on top of the world by using satellite technology to look at the Earth’s land and sea surfaces, and atmospheric conditions.  Utilizing real-time and archived data from space satellites, visitors can explore the paths of artificial satellites and see many natural events, such as El Nino and volcanic activity. 

Hey, if you haven’t heard already, the Earth doesn’t revolve around us! In fact it revolves around the Sun.  Visitors build their understanding of how the Earth moves around in the light of the Sun by modeling a twenty-four hour day at Earth Around the Sun. They compare their model to what they saw in the Looking Beyond the Earth simulations. Visitors look for differences in day and night that occur as their model Earth enters a new season.

The features among the various themes in the astronomy gallery will be changing from time to time, giving visitors a unique and informative experience each time they visit.

The observatory deck has also been remodeled, and is now safe to use.  A nice complement to Our Place in Space will be the use of the Kellogg Observatory and the Heliostat Observatory for special programs.  The observatory deck and Kellogg Observatory will be open for special astromical events and programs.

$250,000 of funding for renovation of the observatory is from Governor Pataki/NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. $245, 564 of funding for the new astronomy hall is from proceeds of the Junior League of Buffalo/The Buffalo News 2001 Decorators' Show House.  Additional funding provided by National Fuel Gas Co. for enhanced educational programming.