Fernbank Summer Exhibits (wednesdays)
Please check the venue or ticket sales site for the current pricing.
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From the venue:
Forest Forms
June 29 – Sept. 29, 2024
Walk alongside 18 larger-than-life metal sculptures of flowers and animals in this artistic outdoor exhibit. Placed along the nature trails in WildWoods, this exhibit features impressive creations inspired by nature. Artist Huelani Mei brings her visions to life through impressive works that include a fox family, flowers, rabbits, a snake archway, a peacock and more.
A Mirror Maze: Numbers in Nature
June 8 – Sept. 9, 2024
Never look at the world the same way again.
A Mirror Maze: Numbers in Nature is an interactive and immersive exhibit featuring a life-size mirror maze, that exposes the mathematical patterns that abound in the natural world. From the delicate nested spirals of a sunflower’s seeds to spots on a giraffe, guests will discover a unique—and sometimes puzzling—perspective of our daily surroundings. A Mirror Maze: Numbers in Nature also features an array of artifacts—Bighorn sheep antlers, honeycomb and an aluminum anthill casting—that demonstrate real examples of patterns in objects from the natural world.
The crown jewel of this exhibit is an elaborate mirror maze in which guests can explore and navigate a seemingly infinite repeating pattern of mirrors. Interactive elements throughout the exhibit allow for hands-on learning to understand that math is all around us in everyday life, revealing the beauty of our world through numbers.
Giants of the Mesozoic
Ongoing Exhibit
Stand beneath some of the world’s largest dinosaurs as you enter this snapshot of life in prehistoric Patagonia (145-165 million years ago). Take in a scene of an epic dinosaur battle between Giganotosaurus and Argentinosaurus with a flock of pterosaurs scattering away.
Play the role of a paleontologist as you examine the terrain to discover buried and trace fossils of other plant and animal species, such as dinosaur tracks, an Araucaria tree, a crocodile and a turtle shell.*
Star Gallery
Ongoing Exhibit
Each star was carefully plotted on the ceiling, forming an illuminated star chart. The fibers used to create the stars vary in diameter, allowing them to shine with 22 varying degrees of brightness. More than 6 miles of fiber optic wires accurately portray the 542 stars twinkling above.
SkyWatch screens provide daily programming about constellations, planets and astronomical events.
Visitors can find the stars in the Star Gallery using the following guide:
- Stand facing the doors to the Giant Screen Theater, which is toward the south, to recognize the constellations in the appropriate direction.
- Antares in Scorpius and Arcturus in Bootes are located near the World of Shells exhibition.
- By moving away from The World of Shells exhibit toward the Great Hall, which is eastward, visitors will pass under stars visible in the early evening in the spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring again.
- Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) is easily recognized over the double doors to the Great Hall.
- Andromeda is near the center of the room.
- Orion nebula (M-42) is just below the belt stars of Orion.
- Aldebaran (in the constellation Taurus) and Betelgeuse (in Orion) are found among the winter stars on the side near the Great Hall