Science Museum of Virginia brings life to NASA telescope images

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - It’s a new frontier for some stunning images coming from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

The Science Museum of Virginia is now working these newly unveiled images of our universe into its planetarium shows inside the dome.

“So the atmosphere there was just electric to experience that,” said Justin Bartel, Immersive Experience manager.

This week, Bartel traveled to NASA’s Goddard Space Center and the Space Telescope Science Institute for the reveal.

He called it all a breathtaking experience, and says the biggest takeaway is that the handful of images is the beginning of a long list of amazing discoveries the telescope will make.

“We had one-on-one question-and-answer time with some of those leadership folk and scientists who are now going to spend perhaps the next couple of decades making new discoveries with this telescope,” said Bartel.

High-resolution images in hand, Bartel brought them back to the science museum to show in the dome.

The museum is also hoping a renewed interest in space will translate into more people coming through the doors to learn, become inspired and discover.

“I know that the images are getting a lot of coverage. I hope a lot of people will be really excited right now so definitely hope people see it and here about the images here,” said Bartel.

Next summer, the museum will host an astronomy exhibit. Those at the museum hope to incorporate more of those telescope images at that time.

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