The planetarium is also offering a special lecture at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31, by UCLA professor Kevin McKeegan, who specializes in geochemistry and cosmochemistry.

McKeegan will talk about the origin and early history of our solar system. He will also give an overview of the Stardust Mission, which encountered the comet Wild 2 on Jan. 2. The mission's goal was to capture particle samples from the tail of the comet and return them to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.

The planetarium will be offering two shows every Friday night in February to give the public an opportunity to view different aspects of the evening skies.

Each Friday at 6 p.m., the first presentation will be the "Winter Sky Show," which offers a view of the stars, constellations and planets visible in the night skies during winter.

The second presentations, each beginning at 7 p.m., are as follows:

• Feb. 6 - "Tour of the Solar System," which provides a pictorial journey through our solar system, from the sun to Pluto, with a special stop at the planet Mars.

• Feb. 13 - "Relativistic Interstellar Travel," a presentation by Art Huffman, a senior lecturer in the physics and astronomy department at UCLA. Huffman will examine if and how man can exploit relativistic time dilation to travel to distant stars.

• Feb. 20 - "The Search for Life in the Universe," in which narrator Leonard Nimoy poses the question "Are we alone in the universe?" The show explores the attempts by humans to establish contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.

• Feb. 27 - "Virtual Tour of San Fernando Observatory" provides an overview of the observatory, located in Sylmar and operated by Cal State Northridge, which functions as a research and educational facility.

General admission tickets for one show, including the Jan. 31 presentation, are $5, or $8 for two shows. Student admission is $3 for one show and $5 for two shows.

Tickets are available at the University Student Union box office Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by calling the box office at (818) 677-2488.

For more information about the planetarium's shows, call Northridge's Department of Physics and Astronomy at (818) 677-2775.

CSUN's Donald E. Bianchi Planetarium is operated by the Department of Physics and Astronomy. It is named after the founding dean of the College of Science and Mathematics. At the heart of the 105-seat theater is a Spitz-512 Star Projector, capable of recreating the night sky on the planetarium's 40-foot dome with accuracy and brilliance. More than 2,000 stars, the five visible planets and all of their apparent motions in the sky seem to come alive as they are projected overhead.

Cal State Northridge's College of Science and Mathematics is home to several nationally recognized programs where students gain valuable experience through hands-on work using the latest technologies and equipment. Students also have an opportunity to co-author publications with faculty members, present their research results at national and international meetings, and prepare for teaching careers.