UM, TV share Red Planet fascination

Staff members at the University of Maine’s Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium are among the many astronomy enthusiasts around the world anxiously awaiting new photos from Mars.

“We’re keeping in close touch with the events of the rover and downloading the new images more than once a day,” planetarium director Alan Davenport said Monday. The planetarium has the capability to download the most recent photos of Mars within hours of their availability.

“We have very fast access to the imagery,” Davenport said.

A multimedia presentation for the general public called “Mars Invasion” will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, at the planetarium. The show, which costs $3 for children and $4 for adults, will include new images, discoveries and a futuristic trip to the Red Planet.

“If we’re very lucky, there may even be a clear enough sky to view the planet Mars through the telescope,” Davenport said.

The planetarium’s show schedule can be obtained at www.umainesky.com. Information about the Mars rover expeditions soon will be included on the site.

Adelphia cable also is carrying NASA TV programming on local Channel 12 from 7:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The programming will continue to be broadcast until Tuesday, Jan. 20. The city of Bangor will provide additional airtime from 4:15 to 9:15 p.m. on the same dates.

An encore presentation of Maine Public Broadcasting’s “MARS Dead or Alive” program exploring whether the Red Planet was ever suitable for life will be shown at 8 tonight.

Local elementary school pupils also are getting a unique chance to learn about the life of an astronaut. International Space Station Expedition Eight crew members Michael Foale and Alexander Kaleri will talk with fourth- and fifth-grade pupils at Fairmount Elementary School in Bangor by satellite to answer questions about the life of an astronaut on Thursday, Jan. 15.

Foale has spent more than 178 days in space on five flights, including more than four months on the Russian Mir International Space Station. Kaleri has flown on three previous missions to the Mir station and has logged 416 days in space.

The program is supported by assistance from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Adelphia and the city of Bangor.

NASA biographies and information about the Space Station are available at www.spaceflight.nasa.gov. A schedule of the NASA TV programs can be found at www.spacelink.nasa.gov/education.file. Maine Public Broadcasting has information about Mars on its Web site at www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mars.