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CSUN’s Planetarium to Offer a Last Look at the Summer
Night Sky, Peek at the Stars on an Autumn Night

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Aug. 7, 2007) — Cal State Northridge’s Bianchi Planetarium is offering a last look at the mysteries of a summer night and a peek at the stars on an autumn evening beginning next month.

The planetarium, located on the west side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge, offers two shows every other Friday night to give the public an opportunity to view different aspects of the evening skies.

The presentations are as follows:

• Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. offers an examination of the sky during the summer, followed at 8:30 p.m. by "Hubble Vision: A Fascinating Tour of the Cosmos—From Earth’s Orbit." Images from the Hubble Space Telescope offer glimpses of objects in our solar system, including the moon and Venus, clouds on dusty Mars, a comet’s crash into Jupiter and the faraway worlds of Pluto and Quaoar. Viewers also will observe colliding galaxies, deaths of stars and the cataclysmic aftermath of a supernova explosion, among other things.
• Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. offers a look at sky in early autumn, followed at 8:30 p.m. by "Voyager: 30 Years in Space—The Outer Planets and Far Beyond." Alan Cummings, senior scientist at the California Institute of Technology and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), will discuss what has happened in the 30 years since the twin Voyager spacecraft were sent to explore the giant outer planets of our solar system.
• Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. is an examination of the autumn sky, followed at 8:30 p.m. by "The Dawn Mission to the Asteroid Belt." Marc Rayman of JPL will discuss NASA’s ambitious Dawn mission planned for September 2007. The spacecraft will orbit Ceres and Vesta, which are among the last unexplored massive objects in the inner solar system. Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
• Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. is an examination of the autumn sky, followed at 8:30 p.m. by "Light Years from Andromeda: A Journey Between Two Galaxies Spans Human History—and Reveals the Secrets of the Cosmos." The show explores what happens to a planet during the time that a beam of light leaves a star in the Andromeda Galaxies, travels across the void of intergalactic space, and finally reaches the said planet.

Student admission for planetarium shows is $3 for one show and $5 for both. General admission is $5 for one show and $8 for both. Tickets are available in advance at the A.S. Ticket Office located in the University Student Union. Ticket office hours are Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are also available at the planetarium ticket office half an hour before the first show. For ticket information, call (818) 677-2488.

For more information about the planetarium shows, call (818) 677-5601 or visit its Web site www.csun.edu/physics/planetarium.