Field Trip to the Hayden Planetarium and Rose Center for Earth and ------------------------------------------------------------------ Space at the American Museum of Natural History ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------- | Friday, 29 February 2008 | -------------------------- The Hayden Planetarium was completely rebuilt in time for the millenium, and is perhaps the most up-to-date and astrophysically accurate exhibit hall devoted to astronomy in the world. The Director of the Planetarium, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, taught AST 203 in Princeton from 1999 through 2003, and has graciously invited our class to visit on Friday Feb 29. Thanks to a special endowment from Eric W. Tilenius (class of 1990), and additional funds from Princeton's Science and Technology Council, entrance tickets to the museum and planetarium will be made available without charge to currently enrolled AST 204 students, in lecture on Wednesday, 27 March. Only take a ticket if you are sure you are going to use it; there are only a limited number available, and we still have to pay for unused tickets. Community auditors, and friends who are not enrolled in the class and who wish to attend, will be welcome if tickets are available, but they will have to pay for them. If for whatever reason you can't pick up a ticket on Wednesday, have a friend pick up your ticket for you or go to Charlotte Zanidakis' office (133 Peyton), where we will leave off a few spare tickets. You will be responsible for transportation to and from New York (see below). We will plan to arrive at the museum around 1:15 PM. After viewing the exhibits, we are scheduled to see the planetarium show: "Cosmic Collisions" starting at 3:00 PM. At 3:30 PM (i.e., immediately after the sky show), we will hear a presentation from Dr. Tyson. He is a wonderful speaker (you may have seen him in various appearances on Nova shows on PBS, or on Charlie Rose, or the Colbert Report, or on Time Magazine's 2007 list of the one hundred most influential people in the world...). You are then free to continue exploring the museum, to listen to free jazz (see below), to enjoy New York City night life, and to make your way back by train to Princeton. Museum address: American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th Street New York City (Manhattan) General Number: 212-769-5100 We strongly recommend you take New Jersey Transit. It's faster and cheaper than driving a car. There are two types of ticket on NJ Transit: round trip excursion fares and one-way fares, the former being cheaper of course than two one-way fares ($26:50). If you plan to return to Princeton during evening rush hour (4-7 pm) you should purchase two one way fares (Princeton - NYC, NYC - Princeton) rather than a round-trip excursion ticket, because the latter is not valid during rush hour. Buy your tickets from the machines at the "Dinky" station - the tickets will include the cost of the"Dinky", the one-stop train that connects Princeton to Princeton Junction. On the return from Penn Station New York, you want the Northeast Corridor train to Trenton. Relevant inbound schedule. Outbound they leave about every 30 minutes. Very early option: Lv. Princeton (Dinky): 10:31 AM Lv. Princeton Junction: 10:40 AM Arrive NYC Penn Station: 11:47 PM (last stop) Early option: Lv. Princeton (Dinky): 11:31 AM Lv. Princeton Junction: 11:41 AM Arrive NYC Penn Station: 12:59 PM (last stop) On-time Option: Lv. Princeton (Dinky): 12:07 PM Lv. Princeton Junction: 12:18 PM Arrive NYC Penn Station: 1:36 PM (last stop) Late option: Lv. Princeton (Dinky): 12:41 PM Lv. Princeton Junction: 12:52 PM Arrive NYC Penn Station: 2:09 PM (last stop) Upon arrival in Penn Station, buy a round-trip MetroCard ($4.00) and take the Uptown C train to 81st street, a 15-20 minute ride. Exit front of the Platform. Enter Museum at its grand entrance on Central Park West. If you exit the train from the rear of the platform, you will enter the Museum underground, which is okay, too, just not as grand. Depending on when you arrive, you'll have an hour or more to enjoy the exhibits of the Rose Center of Earth and Space, before heading upstairs to the 3:00 Sky Show (you will want to be in line for that starting around 2:45). If you absolutely insist on driving, remember that it will be much more expensive (tolls and parking) and will take more time. But if you insist: Take Route 1 north from Princeton for about 14 miles. Follow signs to NJ Turnpike. Enter Turnpike North. Take Turnpike all the way to the Lincoln Tunnel. Upon entering Manhattan take the West Side Drive north Exit 79th Street. Go right on 79th Street, left on Amsterdam Avenue, and right on 81st Street. The Rose Center parking lot is on the right after several blocks. Many restaurants are within one block of the museum on Columbus Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue. You cannot lose with any of them. Check out the web site of the Rose Center for Earth and Space: http://www.amnh.org/rose/ the cosmic collisions show we will see: http://www.amnh.org/rose/spaceshow/cosmic/ And Neil Tyson's website: http://research.amnh.org/~tyson/