Please note, this event has ended.

Over 100 giant planets orbiting other stars have already been found by ground-based telescopes. Dr. William Borucki, NASA Ames Research Center, will describe future space-based missions necessary to find habitable Earth-sized planets.

This lecture is the last in the series for 2004. The lecture is free but tickets are required and must be obtained in advance. Tickets are available at the museum's Lockheed Martin IMAX(r) Theater box office or through Tickets.com by calling (800) 529-2440, or visiting www.tickets.com. There is a nominal service charge on Tickets.com orders. Tickets may also be reserved by calling (202) 633-2398, or by e-mailing lectures@nasm.si.edu.

Pre-Lecture Activities:
6:00 p.m. Selected exhibitions open. Experience interactive Discovery Stations and engage a working model of the Mars Exploration Rovers currently exploring the Red Planet.
6:30 p.m. Free showing of Space Station 3D, Lockheed Martin IMAX® Theater

The 2004 Exploring Space Lecture Series, New Strategies for Detecting Life in the Universe, will feature four world-renowned scientists who will take us beyond Mars and the Solar System to examine impending technological advances in astronomical research. What techniques are astronomers using today, and what techniques do they propose for the near future, to seek out planets like Earth? And what might these planets look like, as seen from vast interstellar distances, and how will scientists know that life is possible, or even present, on their surfaces?

Live Webcast: This even will be webcast live!  It will subsequently be offered as archived video two weeks after the live webcast.  See http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1001280/ for more information.