June 4, 2025

Encounters in the Milky Way, Hayden Planetarium Space Show at the American Museum of Natural History, opens June 9, 2025

“Illuminating the thrilling cosmic movements that shape our galactic neighborhood and our place in the universe, the American Museum of Natural History’s new Hayden Planetarium Space Show, Encounters in the Milky Way, will open to the public on June 9, 2025. Narrated by Pedro Pascal, Encounters in the Milky Way debuts during the 25th anniversary of the Museum’s iconic Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space, which since 2000 has transported millions of visitors to the edge of the observable universe with increasingly sophisticated visualizations based on observations from groundbreaking space missions and leading-edge scientific models.

Our lives are measured in movement: Earth spins on its axis giving us day and night. Seasons change, and years pass, as we travel around the Sun. While the stars in our night sky appear fixed, the constellations unchanging, they are all in motion. Our own star, the Sun, is part of this galactic migration, and it’s taking us along for the ride. Encounters in the Milky Way, the Hayden Planetarium’s seventh Space Show, is the first to focus on the story of this cosmic motion and how it impacts our solar system.” — American Museum of Natural History

Milky Way collision with Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. A visualization of the Milky Way’s collision with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy—which has been ongoing for several billion years—is shown for the first time in Encounters in the Milky Way using computer models simulating multiple close passes. a). Jon Parker / © AMNH b). © AMNH
Local bubble. This visualization shows the “local bubble,” a clearing within dense clouds of gas and dust that our solar system entered about 5 million years ago, around the time that early human ancestors were beginning to walk upright. © AMNH
Oort cloud neighborhood. Our Oort cloud (center), a shell of icy bodies that surrounds the solar system and extends oneand-a-half light years in every direction, is shown in this scene from Encounters in the Milky Way along with the Oort clouds of neighboring stars. The more massive the star, the larger its Oort cloud. © AMNH
Oort cloud spiral discovery. While fine-tuning a simulation of the Oort cloud, a vast expanse of ice material left over from the birth of our Sun, the Encounters in the Milky Way production team noticed a very clear shape: a structure made of billions of comets and shaped like a spiral-armed galaxy, seen here in a scene from the final Space Show (curving, dusty S-shape behind the Sun). © AMNH
Gliese 710 flyby. In about 1.3 million years, the star system Gliese 710 is set to pass directly through our Oort Cloud, an event visualized in a dramatic scene in Encounters in the Milky Way. During its flyby, our systems will swap icy comets, flinging some out on new paths. © AMNH
James Webb Space Telescope. Encounters in the Milky Way features an exhilarating close-up of the groundbreaking observatory that is peering beyond the Milky Way: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), operating since 2022 a million miles away from Earth. JWST is providing researchers with stunning views of galaxies millions of lightyears away but with characteristics similar to those of our own Milky Way. © AMNH

“We’re thrilled to celebrate the Rose Center’s 25th anniversary with the premiere of Encounters in the Milky Way, the latest in a succession of dazzling and eye-opening Hayden Planetarium Space Shows,” said Museum President Sean M. Decatur. “We’re lucky to be living in a golden age of space science and exploration, when new tools and technologies are fueling discoveries and new knowledge about the cosmos. Encounters in the Milky Way combines observations from the Gaia Space Observatory with the latest science visualization capabilities, along with newly upgraded sound technology in our Hayden Planetarium Space Theater, to take visitors on a thrilling journey to experience our galaxy, its history and future, and the dynamic changes continually underway. We can’t wait to share it with our visitors.”

“It’s a once-in-a-generation time in astrophysics as we are mapping our galactic neighborhood and learning the dynamic history and future of our corner of the Milky Way,” says Jackie Faherty, senior research scientist in the Museum’s Astrophysics Department and a senior education manager in the Education Division, who specializes in brown dwarf and exoplanet research and who served as curator on Encounters in the Milky Way. “This Space Show highlights recent discoveries that have revolutionized our understanding of the solar system’s journey through the galaxy.”

Encounters in the Milky Way is curated by Jackie Faherty, senior research scientist in the Museum’s Astrophysics Department and a senior education manager in the Education Division, and directed by Carter Emmart, the Museum’s director of astrovisualization and one of the original team members of the NASA-funded Digital Universe and OpenSpace projects. Rosamond Kinzler, senior director of science education and principal investigator on the OpenSpace project, is the executive producer, and Vivian Trakinski, who directs the Museum’s science visualization program, is the producer. John Parker is the technical director, and Laura Moustakerski, a writer and producer in the Museum’s science visualization group, wrote the script. Narration direction was by filmmaker Shawn Levy, a Museum Trustee. The score is by Robert Miller, a New York City composer who scored four of the previous Hayden Planetarium Space Shows.

Title image: Milky Way collision with Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. A visualization of the Milky Way’s collision with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy—which has been ongoing for several billion years—is shown for the first time in Encounters in the Milky Way using computer models simulating multiple close passes. a). Jon Parker / © AMNH. b). © AMNH

Images courtesy American Museum of Natural History.