The Lake Afton Public Observatory and Exploration Place are collaborating on Astronomy Day, Saturday, May 10, for AstroFest 2008.

Activities begin at Exploration Place at 10 a.m. Allan Cheuvront, NASA's Stardust Mission Flight Director, will be the guest speaker.

Several times during the day, he will be discussing some of the details of their mission to collect and analyze dust from Comet P/Wild 2. In addition, he may also have information to share on the upcoming Stardust-NExT mission, which will return to the site of the Deep Impact mission on comet Tempel 1.

That evening, people can observe Mercury from 8:30-9:15 p.m. through Lake Afton’s 16-inch telescope. Next will be the observation of Saturn, and then the Earth’s moon.

Visitors can also examine and interact with Lake Afton’s many exhibits, including making a telescope, exploring some of the properties of light and touching space rocks.

Opening Times and Admission

The Lake Afton Public Observatory is open on Friday and Saturday evenings from 9-11 p.m. May 1-Aug. 31.

For the purposes of viewing Mercury on May 9-10 and 16-17, the observatory will open at 8:30 p.m.

Admission is normally $4 for adults and $3 for children ages 6-12; children younger than 6 are admitted free. However, anyone who brings an AstroFest ticket from Exploration Place will receive $1 off the regular admission price.

Program information is available from at (316) 978-7827 (WSU-STAR).

The Lake Afton Public Observatory is operated by the Fairmount Center for Science and Mathematics Education, a part of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Science at Wichita State University.