MIAMI – A Skyskan employee was training Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science employees on how to use the DigitalSky Software to display NASA images at the planetarium.
They were working with Jorge Perez-Gallego, the museum's curator of astronomy, who also developed a laser show exhibit that will be glowing in the first floor of the downtown Miami museum.
The 360-degree digital display started after a group of women, who were mostly new arrivals from Honduras and Venezuela, started to clean every square of the dome screen about 7 a.m.
"We wore a harness along with a lifeline just in case, and we cleaned it with only water, because it's very delicate," one of the women said in Spanish. "We couldn't use our hands to hold ourselves, because it would leave our hand prints, so it was difficult, but it is perfect now."
Dozens of construction workers, cleaning crews and museum employees were working on the final details on Thursday. Aside from the 250-seat planetarium, the new museum will also have a three-level aquarium, six other exhibitions and a privileged view of downtown Miami.
The museum at 1101 Biscayne Boulevard opens from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday. Tickets are $28 for adults and teens and $20 for children ages 3 to 11. Toddlers and babies won't require a ticket. Annual museum memberships ranging from $65 to $250 include free admission.
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