UNA PLANETARIUM OFFERS LIVE COVERAGE OF GLAST MISSION LAUNCH
May 29, 2008
FLORENCE, Ala. – The University of North Alabama Planetarium and Observatory will offer live webcast coverage of the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission launch at 11 a.m. June 2 and 10 a.m. June 3. The events are part of the planetarium’s new Space Mission of the Month program and Launches and Landings initiative coverage of space missions. Admission is free to the public.
GLAST will launch into earth orbit between 10:45 a.m. and 12:40 p.m. CST June 3, pending on-time launch of the space shuttle May 31.
“This mission will enable new insights into the highest-energy events in the universe, including gamma ray bursts that are thought to form black holes, giant black holes at the center of galaxies and the origins of the mysterious cosmic rays,” said Dr. Mel Blake, director of the UNA Planetarium and Observatory. “GLAST will observe the universe at energies that you and I can’t see with our eyes, and so reveals a side of the cosmos that we could not otherwise understand.”
With the June 2 webcast, the GLAST team will put the mission in the context of previous missions and discuss the questions that GLAST will seek to answer. On June 3, the GLAST launch will be covered live with a presentation on the mission.
The GLAST team has sent posters, stickers and other keepsakes for attendees. The program is supported by NASA and the GLAST team.
For more information, contact Blake at 256-765-4284 or rmblake@una.edu.
