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Museum Of Science Closes, Reopens 2016

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- More than 50 years after opening its doors in Coconut Grove, the Frost Museum of Science has closed.

Its closing left most of its iconic pieces alone, in the darkness.

"It's very peculiar," said Dr. Jorge Perez Gallego from Frost Science."I mean I've never experienced in this museum," he said,  "silence was never silence here before. Today is kind of the first day.  It's like something is off."

But it will reopen!

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science may have closed the doors at its original location but it's all so they can move to their new location, a $300 million state-of-the-art facility in Museum Park. It will be next to the Perez Art Museum and the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.  Construction is well underway.

When it's ready, the Frost Planetarium will be home to the study of space and more.  The seating and video system is designed to make visitors feel like they're a part of the production.

"If you're in the cosmos, you'll be deep in the cosmos," explains Dr. Eldredge Bermingham,  "if you're in the human body, you'll be deep in the human body. If you're under the sea, you will feel like you're completely surrounded in that sea."

Dr. Bermingham is in charge of the scientific elements at the museum. He showed CBS4's Ted Scouten what makes the museum so South Florida is a massive aquarium and exhibit that takes visitors from the ocean to the Everglades and every environment in between.

"This is the Gulfstream Aquarium. This is a 510,000 gallon aquarium," he said pointing to the massive tank.  "Here you'll see big sharks, hammer head, you'll see tuna, you'll see barracuda."

You'll be able to see the tank from several floors. The goal, throughout the entire museum, is to make visitors feel like they're in the middle of it all.

"It will be fantastic," he says.

Construction will continue for the next several months.  Frost Science is set to open in the summer of 2016. To see more, click here.

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