{"id":371331,"date":"2026-07-13T17:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/371331\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T17:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:18:14","slug":"the-houston-museum-of-natural-science-is-hiding-a-62-year-old-immersive-theater-that-runs-space-shows-on-its-dome-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/371331\/","title":{"rendered":"The Houston Museum of Natural Science is hiding a 62-year-old immersive theater that runs space shows on its dome screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Leave Earth behind at the Burke Baker Planetarium. On the grounds of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Houston planetarium features a captivating lineup of films, where audiences can explore both the vast marvels of the universe in immersive detail right here on our home planet. <\/p>\n

Since 1964, millions have journeyed through the universe at Houston\u2019s iconic Burke Baker Planetarium. Projected onto a massive domed screen, state-of-the-art technology and high-resolution video deliver a vivid, fully immersive journey into deep space.<\/p>\n

\"ImagePhoto credit: HMNS<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus on presenting emerging technologies in our newest planetarium films, because today\u2019s kids will live in the future,\u201d said Carolyn Sumners, Ed.D., vice president of astronomy for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, \u201cShowing them the fascinating possibilities science can generate excites students about helping to create that future.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1998, the Burke Baker Planetarium produced the first full-dome computer-animated show in the United States. It has since created a wide array of films, ranging from interstellar explorations to historical features like Lucy\u2019s Cradle: The Birth of Wonder (2007)\u2014set in Africa millions of years ago\u2014and Night of the Titanic (2008). <\/p>\n

It remains one of the few U.S. planetariums that produces original virtual content, distributing its shows to a global network of theaters.<\/p>\n

\"ImagePhoto credit: HMNS<\/p>\n

A major upgrade in early 2007 equipped the Burke Baker Planetarium with a projection system that is five times brighter and delivers double the resolution. With twice the pixels per image, the system covers the entire dome in crystal-clear detail. <\/p>\n

The Burke Baker Planetarium features 11 different shows on rotation. Arguably the most popular production is the Dark Side of the Moon. Synchronized to Pink Floyd\u2019s seminal album, the show offers an incredible \u2013\u00a0some might even say \u201ctranscendent\u201d \u2013\u00a0audiovisual experience that envelops visitors in wraparound digital imagery. <\/p>\n

The Burke Baker Planetarium is located at the Houston Museum of Natural Science at 5555 Hermann Park Dr. Check the planetarium\u2019s calendar here <\/a>for showtimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leave Earth behind at the Burke Baker Planetarium. On the grounds of the Houston Museum of Natural Science,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-371331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}