See, hear and smell space at AMSE
In the back of the American Museum of Science and Energy, an exhibit features sounds, sights and smells of space.
The museum is at 115 Main Street East in Oak Ridge. Quinn Argall, the exhibits and collections director, said this exhibit was a collaboration with NASA.
Visitors can press a button and experience the barbecue-like smell of particles from the sun that can end up on spacesuits.
They can also listen to the “regions of compression and expansion” of objects and events in space including the Big Bang. While sound doesn’t travel in space, probes and robots sense vibrations that people can translate into sound.
Touch screens show objects such as galaxies, not just represented with optical light humans can see, but also light at infrared and X-ray frequencies people usually can’t see.
“Whatever we do in the future of humanity, space is where we’re going,” Argall said, explaining the exhibit’s importance.
