‘Star Parties’ Set at Branch Libraries

Volunteers from astronomy clubs are scheduled to hold several public “star parties” at Los Angeles branch libraries, complete with telescopes. All shows will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. If skies are cloudy, slide programs on astronomical topics will be shown.

Tonight: Chinatown, (213) 620-0925; Will and Ariel Durant Branch, West Hollywood (213) 876-2741.

Thursday: Arroyo Seco Branch, Highland Park, (213) 237-1181; Mar Vista. (310) 390-3454; Benjamin Franklin Branch, Boyle Heights, (213) 263-6902.

Monday: Robert Louis Stevenson Branch, Boyle Heights, (213) 268-4710.

March 14: Malabar Branch, Boyle Heights, (213) 263-1497; San Pedro, (310) 548-7779.

ASTRONOMY

* “Alien Skies,” an exploration of the solar system’s weather, climate and sky color from Mercury to Pluto will be the featured astronomy presentation at 8 p.m. Friday, March 17 and 24 at Santa Monica College, Room 111 of the Business Building. It follows the weekly night sky show at 7 p.m. (310) 452-9396.

* The Los Angeles Astronomical Society will feature a video of “The Astronomers” at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at Griffith Observatory. (213) 727-7909.

SCIENCE FOR KIDS

* With a nod to St. Patrick’s Day, children can perform scientific experiments to investigate the colors of the rainbow and plant good luck clover seeds from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Kidspace Museum in Pasadena. (818) 449-9144.

* Children in grades four to six can join the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s Sea Club beginning March 14 for four weekly sessions from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Participants can observe animal behavior, examine specimens under a microscope and explore the beach and salt marsh in the area. (310) 548-7563.

* The Friends of Soka University will host a Junior Environmental Walk for children and their families from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Soka University. (818) 880-4649.

ENVIRONMENT

* Lee-Lueng Fu, senior staff scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will discuss “The Ocean and Climate: Observations From Space,” at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium. (818) 395-4652, (800) 423-8849.

* The flora, fauna, geology and ancient traces of humans in the desert will be explored in a weekend course, “Natural History of the East Mojave National Scenic Area,” offered by the Office of Extended Education at Cal State San Bernardino, Friday through Sunday at the Desert Studies Center in Zzyzx near Baker. (909) 880-5975.

MATHEMATICS

* New areas of mathematics and technology will be discussed by Vera Pless, a visiting scholar from the University of Illinois, in a lecture at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Occidental College’s Bioscience Building. On Friday she will discuss “Introduction to Error-Correcting Codes” at 9 a.m. at the Norris Hall of Science, and “Cryptology” at 11:30 a.m. at Fowler Hall. (213) 259-2555.