“Earth or Mars?”
That’s the question posed to visitors as they enter Pacific Science Center’s new exhibit, “Facing Mars,” a question that has two sides to it.
The first involves personal inclination: Which planet would you rather be on? Visitors vote their preference by choosing between “Earth” and “Mars” gates as they enter the exhibit. (At the exit, after you’ve seen the displays, you can vote on the question again.)
The second concerns powers of perception: A widescreen TV flashes image after image of arid terrain. The photographs are captionless for 8 seconds, allowing visitors to guess whether it’s Earth or Mars they’re seeing. The answer, when given, is almost always a surprise. The Atacama Desert, sand dunes of the Sahara and McMurdo Dry Valley of Antarctica can look awfully Mars-like to the untrained eye.