HARTFORD, Conn. -- A glistening, nine-story Connecticut Science Center has opened in Hartford along the riverfront after years of planning and massive fundraising.

Ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held Friday to formally open up the avante garde building that rises above the Connecticut Convention Center located next door.

The $165 million project was conceived eight years ago by state civic and business leaders.

The 144,000-square-foot center features more than 150 exhibits, many of them interactive, on everything from rockets to brain waves.

Among the exhibits, patrons will be able to act out their own weather forecasts at the Channel 3 Early Warning Weather station. Patrons will be able to plug in their information and give the forecast in front of the green screen, as real meteorologists do.

Channel 3 Early Warning Weather Meteorologist Mark Dixon said the forecasts will be recorded and put on a server so the budding weather experts can share them online with their friends and families.

Operators expect the science center will initially attract up to 400,000 visitors a year.

Payroll at the center has been slashed about 8 percent and as many as 10 jobs have been eliminated, officials said. They said it also faces the loss of all state money under the proposed state budget.