A landmark returns Graphic by Raoul Rañoa, Doug Stevens, Tom Reinken and Brady MacDonald, Times

The Griffith Observatory reopens Friday after a $93-million renovation and New copper sheathing will turn The Samuel Oschin green in about 15-20 years. Completely renovated from the 75-foot diameter interior projection dome to the Zeiss Mark IX star projector. expansion. By extending exhibit areas under the front lawn, interior space A new layout cuts capacity in half but adds reclining cushioned seats. Old: Concentric layout, 630 seats New: Epicentric layout, 300 seats was more than doubled while preserving the historic building’s profile. Wooden headrest

Hall of the Eye

The east wing examines the history and importance of celestial observation. Exhibits focus on the optical Original chair New chair tools and techniques used to explore the sky. Optical telescope The 1.5-million-volt arching, sparking machine, Seven million visitors have looked at the moon, planets New dome interior of perforated a scientific curio, has been relocated to a new alcove. and comets through the 12-inch-diameter Zeiss aluminum replaces old plaster surface telescope. The renovation added a new motor and for a more vivid depiction of the sky. 1 Alternating 2 Lightning-like track for the rotating dome. current creates an electricity flows Original projector New projector electromagnetic through air Oschin Planetarium field in transformer. from electrode.

Hall of the Sky Sun’s Secondary mirrors ray The west wing examines how the motions and interactions East Observation of the sun, Earth and moon affect daily life. Exhibits focus Terrace on the seasons, eclipses, moon phases and tides. Riveted copper telescope domes Solar telescope 2 were repaired Visitors can see a filtered real-time view of sunspots and cleaned. and solar flares beamed into the hall from the rooftop telescope. How it works: 1

1 Sun strikes primary mirrors. 2 Reflection bounces off secondary mirrors. 3 New central 3 staircase Reflected light beamed into exhibit hall. Optical telescope Hall of the Eye

Tesla coil Mezzanine to Primary mirrors planetarium move on track

Hall of the Sky

Gottlieb Transit Corridor Solar telescope Detailed below

Foucault pendulum Swinging bronze ball demonstrates rotation of Earth.

Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon theater 200-seat multimedia New white coating auditorium. stretches to prevent Café at the cracking, protect End of the Universe concrete. cafe Solar system lawn model with panoramic Bronze lines mark planetary orbits around the sun, views located on lower level. with each foot equivalent to about 20 million miles. The Edge of Space Telescopes for viewing “The Big Picture” Elevator to Pluto Neptune Uranus Saturn Jupiter lower level

Gift shop “The Big Picture”– 152 feet wide Einstein statue Gunther Depths of Space “” monument

Inner planets (, Earth, Venus, Mercury) and sun

Astronomers Monument Existing public works sculpture honors six astronomy greats: , Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton and Herschel.

Gunther Depths of Space Gottlieb Transit Corridor The new exhibit hall under the front lawn uses astronomical images, models and interactive exhibits to provide perspectives of space made possible by exploration and more sophisticated instruments on Earth. The outdoor astronomical instrument links the changing positions of the sun, moon and stars with the passage 152 ft. of time and the cycle of the seasons. How it works: Sun’s position ‘The Big Picture’ Detailed below statue The largest astronomical picture in the world focuses on a small section of the Virgo cluster 20 The 20th century’s most famous scientist 1 Sunlight passes 2 The spot 3 Sunlight activates 4 The sun’s location of galaxies, the nearest to Earth. The image reaches 10 million times deeper into space than ft. holds his index finger about a foot from Summer through a hole of sunlight a photoelectric and the Spring/ solstice the naked eye would see from a prime viewing spot. his eyes, representing the amount of sky fall in the foil and intersects the arc, sensor in the arc, constellation it shown in “The Big Picture.” equinox casts a spot on indicating the sending a signal to occupies are the arc. calendar date. the wall map. illuminated About the image on a chart. “The Big Picture” – 152 feet ■ Displayed on 114 individual Winter panels, each 6 feet, 8 inches solstice Foil 1 high and 4 feet wide.

■ Panels weigh about 70 pounds each. Markarian’s Chain Monolith ■ Reproduced on porcelain Index finger – 3 inches enamel.

■ Includes about a million Ecliptic chart galaxies, half a million stars, a to be installed thousand asteroids and at least in early 2007. one comet. 4 Griffith ■ Captured during the course of meridian line 20 nights in 2004 and 2005. points at North Star. ■ Size is about 2.46 gigapixels, derived from more than 200 gigabytes of data. 2

3 M90 galaxy and dwarf M89 galaxy M87 galaxy Galaxy merger Chain of galaxies Blue color indicates ongoing Thought to be a merger of Massive black hole at its Galaxy collisions may The giant, elliptical M84 Sources: Griffith Observatory; Edwin Krupp, observatory director; star formation with older stars two spiral galaxies around a center is probably a billion stimulate bursts of star and M86 galaxies are at the More online at latimes.com Mark Pine, deputy observatory director; in the yellow center. Our billion years ago. Has not times the mass of our sun. formation. These two will base of Markarian’s Chain, For animated graphics, video interviews, photo Palomar-Quest Team, galaxy would look similar if had time to assume a Thousands of star clusters probably form a new elliptical a group of more than a Institute of Technology; Pfeiffer Partners galleries, panoramic views and an audio tour, Inc.; Levin & Associates Architects viewed from M90. smooth, elliptical shape. appear as yellow dots. galaxy in about a billion years. dozen galaxies. visit www.latimes.com/griffith