NU State Museum Presents Astronomy Day April 18
Released on 03/24/2004, at 12:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
WHEN: Sunday, Apr. 18, 2004
WHERE: University of Nebraska State Museum (Morrill Hall), and other campus locations.
Lincoln, Neb., March 24, 2004 -- The University of Nebraska State Museum will host Astronomy Day 2004 on April 18. With activities at three venues, the event includes fun educational physics and astronomy activities, a presentation by a Mars Rover engineer, and a glimpse at the stars.
The keynote event of the day will be a 7 p.m. special presentation by Nagin Cox, deputy team chief for the Mars Exploration Rovers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Cox will discuss the results and anecdotes from the exploration missions to Mars. The presentation is free and open to the public and will take place in the auditorium of the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.
Morrill Hall, 12th and U streets on City Campus, will have activities from 1:30-4:30 p.m., including Air Force flight simulators and bomb disposal robot, physics demonstrations, astrophotography, robotics, Mars soil and rocks, Hubble video clips from ViewSpace, telescope demonstrations, Red Rover Goes to Mars (drive a rover simulator), meteorites, space geology and astronomy research.
Activities in Morrill Hall are included with paid museum admission: $4 adults, $2 child, or $8 families. UNL faculty, staff and students are free. Separate admission will be charged for planetarium shows presented in Ralph Mueller Planetarium. Free visitor parking is available in front of Morrill Hall.
From 9:30 to 11 p.m., the UNL Student Observatory (on top of the Stadium Parking Garage, 10th and T streets) will have free public viewing (weather permitting).
Presenters for the day's activities include the UNL Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Prairie Astronomy Club, UNL Air Force ROTC/Air Force Association, and others.
For more information regarding Astronomy Day, contact Jack Dunn, coordinator of Mueller Planetarium, (402) 472-2641 or by e-mail, or visit www.spacelaser.com on the World Wide Web. For information on the UNL Student Observatory, contact Martin Gaskell, senior lecturer in astronomy at UNL, (402) 472-4788 or by e-mail.
CONTACT: Willo Stuart, Project Coordinator, NU State Museum, (402) 472-3779