UNA Planetarium Chosen to Unveil New NASA Images

Sep. 30, 2009

FLORENCE, Ala. – The University of North Alabama Planetarium and Observatory has been chosen as a participating institution in NASA’s International Year of Astronomy Great Observatories Image Unveiling. The images will be unveiled to the public at the UNA Planetarium on Nov. 10.

According to the NASA Web site, the images unveiled will be composites from each of the three Great Observatories: an optical view from the Hubble Space Telescope, an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope and an X-ray view from Chandra X-ray Observatory.

UNA’s Planetarium director, Dr. Mel Blake, applied for the honor of becoming one of about 100 institutions to unveil the images.

“Those images are just going to be spectacular,” Blake said.

To celebrate the event, the planetarium will conduct a local middle school essay contest. The winning class will be given a new telescope and a poster of the new images. The class with the winning essay will also be provided with telescope construction materials and taught how to assemble their own personal telescopes.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more information on the image unveiling or the essay contest, contact Blake at 256-765-4284 or rmblake@una.edu.