"Under Autumn Skies: Plants, Planets and Picnic" is slated to begin at 5 p.m. The evening will include a picnic dinner at the Koi Pond, a tour of the Botanic Gardens, a celestial tour in the planetarium and telescope stargazing.

"ÔUnder Autumn Skies' is an event for people to have fun," said Cindy Ventuleth, director of development for the university library. "We encourage families to come to CSUN to have fun and see the neat things CSUN offers."

The garden tour offers the public an opportunity to explore the two-acre garden, its four greenhouses and its collection of rare and unusual plants. Docents along the tour path will talk about the various plants and the garden's highlights.

"Our goal is to get garden enthusiasts excited about planting," said Brian Houck, Botanic Garden manager.

The planetarium program is a live interactive star show consisting of autumnal constellations and planet positions as well as recent photographs from the Hubble Space telescope.

"We would like our visitors to leave with a little more knowledge about the heavens above and have a few laughs in the process," said Christopher McGowan, Bianchi planetarium project developer.

Named after the founding dean of CSUN's College of Science and Mathematics, the Department of Physics and Astronomy operated Donald E. Bianchi Planetarium has a 105 seating capacity and a Spitz-512 Star projector that can recreate the night sky on the planetarium's 40-foot dome ceiling.

CSUN is located at 18111 Nordhoff Street in Northridge. The Botanic Gardens are located near the center of campus off Lindley Avenue. The event parking is free in Lot G3, off Zelzah Avenue.

Guests are encouraged to bring food, non-alcoholic beverages, blankets or lawn chairs to the picnic, or they can pre-order a Rosie's picnic dinner for $10 per person.

For planetarium show reservations, to pre-order a Rosie's dinner or for more information about the event, call the University Library at (818) 677-2638.

California State University, Northridge has more than 33,000 full and part-time students and offers 61 bachelor's and 42 master's degrees as well as 28 education credential programs. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the fourth largest in the 23-campus CSU system. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.