The Peoria Riverfront Museum has a new exhibit filling the former lobby and waiting area of the Dome Planetarium.
The Space Exploration Gallery includes a wide array of items from the stars. The exhibit includes artifacts from the Apollo program, details on the future Artemis program, the flight suit of Pekin astronaut Scott Altman and fragments of real meteorites.
“How cool is it that you can come and see meteorites and then you can touch a meteorite?” said museum president and CEO John Morris. “Over here, I saw a little girl in the fifth grade from a Peoria Public School tour on our Every Student Initiative over there, just touching something that came from outer space. How affirming, how confidence building.”
The planetarium has been undergoing continuous upgrades, including a new projector system with a higher resolution and brighter contrast.
“We have a new laser light system. We have brand new planetarium chairs and this great new space exploration gallery,” said Renae Kerrigan, curator of science and planetarium director. “So it’s been just a joy to be able to update our planetarium in every aspect.”
The outer space theme even extends to the new paint on the walls of the lobby, a deep night-sky blue.
The Space Exploration Gallery is open now for viewing at the Peoria Riverfront Museum, just outside of the Dome Planetarium theater.
