The planetarium is offering two shows every Friday night in April 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 "Spring Sky Show," which offers a view of the stars, constellations and planets visible during spring nights.

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

• April 2 -- "Voyager Encounters." Narrator Patrick Stewart shares the results of Voyager 1 and 2's visits to our solar system's outer planets and their moons.
• April 9 -- "Galileo's Odyssey: The Worlds of Jupiter." Rosaly Lopes, a researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will describe one of NASA's most successful missions, Galileo, which provided revolutionary new data about Jupiter and its four largest moons.
• April 16 -- "In the Heat of the Night: Exploring the Invisible Universe." Michelle Thaller, an astronomer at the Spitzer Science Center at Cal Tech, will talk about the Space Infrared Telescope Facility. Launched in August 2003, the facility is already providing spectacular images of the universe in infrared light.
• April 23 -- "The Search for Life in the Universe." 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.
• April 30 -- "What's New on Mars." Planetarium director Stephen Walton will present an update on the planet Mars, including its geology, history, water and potential for life.

General admission tickets for one show 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 (818) 677-5601.