A museum located in the The Museum District of Houston, TX and
across the street from Hermann Park. Contains museum exhibits, an
average planetarium, and IMAX theater, and a Butterfly Center.
More modern looking than peers such as the landmark Field Museum of
Natural History but less reputation for a reason.
In the exhibits: The Gem and Mineral Hall is amazing, perhaps the
best display collection in the world (The management so claims and I
do not dispute). The Energy hall is petroleum centric, as once was the
industry of Houston. Also included are dinosaurs, seashells,
chemistry, physics, dead African animals, dead Texas animals, Native
American Culture.
The IMAX is a standard IMAX before 3D became vogue in this
realm. No space films are shown here as Space Center Houston, the
tourism complex at Johnson Space Center apparently is the only IMAX
theater in the area allowed to show them.
With reclined chairs the planetarium is a good place for a nap
especially since laser shows with loud music have been discontinued
and replaced by dizzying shows involving Computer Generated Images
showoff and the now rare display of the night sky. It's more of a
theater with a domed roof than a planetarium.
Butterfly center contains hoards of the creatures both living, in a
large glass walk-through rainforest enclosure, and dead. Plenty of
other bugs both living and dead are here too.
Also, a generally relaxed place to work, but can be monotonous, and
the patronage may be annoying.
Worth visiting IMHO, but it's no Smithsonian Institution.