Air and Space Museum Launches Saturday Night Science Lecture Series

Do you harbor a secret desire to be an astronomer or an astrophysicist, or get all
worked up over the subject of geology? The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
has you in mind with a special program called “Smithsonian Stars,” which runs from
this Saturday through the winter. The biweekly lectures, sponsored by NASA, promise
to combine lectures, presentations, and even some star-gazing, and will cover subjects
ranging from moon rocks to the Mars
Curiosity mission. The stars of the ten individual programs are the Smithsonian’s own scientists.
The sessions, which are free to the public, begin at 5:15 in the museum’s Albert Einstein
Planetarium at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue, Northwest. The first presentation,
called “We Make ’Em and Fly ’Em—Three Decades of Telescopes for Observing the Sun
at the Smithsonian,” will be led by Peter Cheimets, senior project engineer at the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. For tickets and the full lineup of lectures,
visit the museum’s website.

Carol Ross Joynt