SOLAR MAX

Sun shines as star of new IMAX film
July 4, 2000
From staff reports

(CNN) -- A new giant-screen documentary chronicles man's quest to understand the sun, tracing his efforts from pre-history to the leading edge of contemporary solar science.

"Solarmax" debuted last week at the Museum of Science and Industry in London. The 40-minute IMAX film takes viewers on a roller coaster ride to everywhere from ancient stone shrines to orbiting space observatories.

In the movie, solstice rays illuminate a Neolithic tomb in Ireland as well as an Inca observatory in Peru, according to the Solarmax Web site.

The film visits the workplace of Nicholas Copernicus, a 16th century astronomer who placed the sun at the center of the solar system, and the laboratories of NASA and ESA, whose high-tech satellites and spacecraft have taken science into the depths of the solar fireball.

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago plans to distribute the film to IMAX theaters in the coming months.

source: www.cnn.com