'Backyard Wilderness' at Fleet Science Center

Fleet Science Center features more than 100 interactive science exhibits in eight galleries, as well as major traveling exhibitions. Visitors can create colored shadows, design images with a sand pendulum, examine the vibration of guitar strings and get their hands on a variety of intriguing scientific phenomena. The Fleet Science Center is also home to the world’s first IMAX Dome Theater, presenting the biggest films on the planet. Its unique configuration wraps the audience in images and provides the illusion of being suspended in space. In 2008, the Fleet completed phase one of a two-phase project, refurbishing the theater’s interior, upgrading the sound system and replacing the original screen with a new seamless screen. In February 2012, phase two was completed, adding a state-of-the-art digital projection system to the theater. The Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn Jacobs Heikoff Dome Theater now shows both IMAX films and digital shows on the NanoSeamTM screen, offering audiences an immersive viewing experience available nowhere else in Southern California. Heikoff Dome Theater show topics take audiences from outer space to under water and every place in between, and are generally suitable for all ages. San Diego’s only Giant Dome Theater also plays host to planetarium shows, including the monthly Sky Tonight show, which is led by an astronomer and followed by outdoor telescope viewing, courtesy of the San Diego Astronomy Association. The Fleet Science Center is open daily at 10 a.m. and is open in the evenings during summer and on weekends. We're open on holidays, too--check our site or call 619-238-1233 for holiday hours. Since our opening in 1973, the Fleet has been the best-attended museum in the city and a Top 10 attraction in San Diego. We are located in beautiful Balboa Park, home to many of the city’s museums, as well as attractive gardens, intriguing architecture and picturesque fountains.