IMAX

Elevate your holiday traditions this season! 

Enjoy holiday film favorites The Polar Express and Elf in IMAX on a larger-than-life screen. The Heikoff Giant Dome Theater provides an immersive experience that will make you feel as if you're part of the movie.  

It’s #FleetsterFriday! This week, we’d like you to meet the Fleetster who has been working here the longest. Mary Anderson, one of the Fleet’s Console Operators, has been with the Fleet since it opened in 1973! Mary has been the primary Console Operator for all of The Sky Tonight planetarium shows—unless, of course, she’s off chasing eclipses and taking amazing astronomy photos! The Sky Tonight planetarium show on Wednesday, September 5, will be Mary’s last before she retires, so don’t miss it!

• Describe your job in four words. 

By Ruth Rosier

Next week is packed with fun, after-hours science events from the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center!

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center is the home to the iconic Heikoff Giant Dome Theater! With a 76-foot wraparound movie screen and 16,000 watts of digital surround sound, the theater is a marvel of science itself. The theater functions both as Southern California’s only IMAX^® Dome Theater and a planetarium (catch The Sky Tonight on the first Wednesday of each month). Our state-of-the-art, full-dome digital projection system and IMAX film projection system produce incredible images nearly eight stories high.

Part II: Behind the Scenes

I got a crash course in special effects on a tour of the bowels under the theater. John Young, Electronic Audio Visual Producer at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, has proudly worked for the Fleet for more than 30 years. His office is in the basement of the theater, which is a catacomb of offices, studios and work spaces.

The Giant Dome Theater at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center was renovated just a few years ago, complete with the world's first NanoSeam Dome screen in an IMAX Theater. Completely redoing our 76-foot hemispherical screen was quite an undertaking, but in this fun video, you can watch it all happen in just one minute.

The Summer of You is in full swing at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. This is our way of saying “thank you” for giving us 40 years of wonderful memories. Without you, we could never accomplish our mission to inspire lifelong learning by helping the public engage with science and technology. We invite you to visit us and join in the celebration of YOU.

Part I: In the Heikoff Giant Dome Theater

The gigantic dome screen was aflutter with enormous butterflies, 15-feet across, by the time I settled into the theater. It had been more than 25 years since I had been there. I thought I knew my way around, but I was guided to a seat straight in from the door as I was arriving late.

 “Dad, is the movie over?” I heard a young voice in the seat next to me.

 “No, son, that was just a preview,” his father said.