Kiwanis grant helps Discovery Center make improvements

Online Staff Report

A grant from the Kiwanis Club of Rockford has allowed the Discovery Center to make upgrades to its planetarium, officials said Thursday, May 5.

This $20,000 award helped purchased a new projection system that improves the Discovery Center planetarium shows.

The new system, Mediaglobe II, realistically simulates the stars, sun, moon and planets as seen anywhere on Earth. It enables real-time virtual space flight through the solar system.

The system also features multiple shows and short clips. For example, Fantastic Space is a beautiful 3-D animation fantasy perfect for preschoolers and kindergartners. In Moon Dreams, 3-D animation tells the story of Earth’s Moon and the other moons of the solar system.

“Our organization’s motto is to serve the children of the world, and the Discovery Center definitely does this with their outstanding children’s museum,” said Paul Werther, endowment committee member of the Kiwanis Club of Rockford.

“We are so thankful for the generosity of the Kiwanis Club of Rockford,” Discovery Center Executive Director Sarah Wolf added. “We now have a wonderful variety of informative and entertaining planetarium shows for our visitors.”

Planetarium shows are offered on weekends, school holidays and every day during the summer.

Showtimes are typically 1 and 3 pm and last 20 to 30 minutes. Cost is $1.00 for the general public and $0.50 for museum members. Catch a FREE planetarium show this Saturday, May 7, as Discovery Center celebrates National Astronomy Day. Special activities will take place from 1 to 4 pm and are included with admission.

Discovery Center Museum is a non-profit organization providing hands-on math, science and art experiences for all ages with over 250 hand-on exhibits.

The museum is ranked the #4 children’s museum in the nation by Child magazine. Discovery Center is located inside Riverfront Museum Park, 711 North Main Street, Rockford, Ill.

General admission is $7. Children under 2 are free. Hours open are: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For additional information, call (815) 963-6769 or visit discoverycentermuseum.org.