Heads up: Planetarium shows beginning at observatory

Operations manager Jack Pitkin will lead weekly Sunday night planetarium lectures at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Clarence T. Jones Observatory in Brainerd. The series starts Jan. 21.
Operations manager Jack Pitkin will lead weekly Sunday night planetarium lectures at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Clarence T. Jones Observatory in Brainerd. The series starts Jan. 21.

Jack Pitkin, senior teaching laboratory specialist of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Physics and Astronomy Department, has announced the spring schedule of lectures and planetarium shows in Jones Observatory.

The observatory, located at 10 N. Tuxedo Ave. in Brainerd, is operated by the university and Barnard Astronomical Society.

The free series begins Sunday, Jan. 21, at the observatory. Each Sunday-night session includes a lecture topic, planetarium show followed by telescope viewing.

Gates open at 5:30 p.m., lectures begin at 6 followed by telescope viewing until 8 p.m. Beginning Sunday, March 25, through the end of the series on April 22, the times will change. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m., with lectures at 7 followed by telescope viewing until 9 p.m.

For more information: 423-425-4518.

» Jan. 21: "The Latest From Pluto," featuring star cluster The Pleiades.

» Jan. 28: "The Latest From Pluto," the featured constellation is Taurus.

» Feb. 4: "The H-R Diagram," featured constellation is Taurus.

» Feb. 11: "The H-R Diagram," featured constellation is Gemini.

» Feb. 18: "Stellar Nucleosynthesis - We Really are Stardust," featured constellation is Gemini.

» Feb. 25: UTC Physics Student Appreciation Night, featured constellation is Orion. Part of this program will be an informal presentation of research by UTC students to the public.

» March 4: "The Oort Cloud," featured constellation is Orion. Pitkin describes the Oort Cloud as a sphere of comet-like bodies orbiting the sun at the edge of the solar system.

» March 25: "The Oort Cloud," featured constellation is Leo.

» April 1: "The Ninth Planet - Have They Found It Yet," featured constellation is the Summer Triangle.

» April 15: "The Ninth Planet - Have They Found It Yet," featured constellation is the Summer Triangle.

» April 22: "Radio Astronomy," featured constellation is the Summer Triangle.

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