‘Voyager Watch’ About to Begin

Voyager 2 will pass by Neptune this month, providing the closest views yet of the giant gaseous planet nearly 3 billion miles from the sun. Many local organizations are planning events to coincide with the spacecraft’s final planetary encounter before leaving the solar system, one of the biggest being “Planetfest ‘89,” sponsored by the Planetary Society at the Pasadena Convention Center, Aug. 23-27.

As part of the society’s internationally coordinated “Voyager Watch” program, the five-day event will include lectures, films, exhibits and speakers such as astronomer Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray, former director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of the highlights of the program will be live images of Neptune as they are transmitted from the spacecraft to a specially designed video wall at the Convention Center.

The California Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park will also have live coverage of Voyager. Images will be provided to the museum as they are received by JPL from Aug. 21-29.

For information and registration for Planetfest, call (818) 793-5100. For museum information call (213) 744-7400.

ASTRONOMY

August is a big month for space enthusiasts. On Wednesday there will be a total eclipse of the moon during the early evening. The next total lunar eclipse visible from the Los Angeles area will not occur until June, 1993. The Astronomical Unit of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History will have telescopes set up to view the eclipse at the Old Mission in Santa Barbara from 7:30 to 10 p.m.

Other local organizations, including the Griffith Observatory, the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and Moorpark College, will also have telescopes available to view the eclipse that evening.

For Santa Barbara information call (805) 682-3224; Griffith Observatory, (213) 664-1191; Astronomical Society (213) 926-4071; Moorpark College, (805) 378-1408.

SCIENCE FOR KIDS

Kidspace Museum in Pasadena will have spider workshops where youngsters can observe tarantulas and other spiders and create take-home projects, Aug. 22-25 at 2, 3 and 4 p.m. On Aug. 26 and 27, kids can learn about insects with the museum’s California Harvester Ant Colony and bug collection in programs at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Call (818) 449-9144.

Kids will be able to learn about vision and eye care in a special “Kid’s Clinic” program at the Children’s Museum in La Habra at noon Aug. 26. Call (213) 905-9793.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography is sponsoring a class for children ages 3-5 on the marine life found in local tidepools on Aug. 26, 9:30 to 11 a.m. Advance registration is required. Call (619) 534-3474.

ORNITHOLOGY

Fred Heath of the Los Angeles Audubon Society will introduce participants to the birds of the Santa Clara River estuary, one of the last major estuarine systems in Southern California, on Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to noon. Call (213) 876-0202.

MARINE SCIENCE

Channel Islands National Park Ranger Ariel Leonard will discuss the balance of nature and competition for food among the starfish, sea urchins and other creatures of a Pacific tidepool on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the park’s Visitor Center in Ventura. On Sunday at 2 p.m. Park Ranger Cathy Schwemm will talk about marine pollution and ways to help combat the problem. Call (805) 644-8262.