We will be having the last of our "Spring Session" Astronomy Nights on Saturday, May 1, at the CCSSC. As usual, we will begin with a show in the planetarium at 8 pm, and then move outside to the telescopes (weather permitting) to view objects currently up in the night sky. Saturn is making a good showing these evenings! The show is FREE and open to the public.

Coming up this summer, we will have a series of Monday Astronomy Nights at Callaway Gardens, starting June 7 and running every Monday night at 9 p.m. through Aug. 2. We will also have a couple of Saturday evenings in there, so stay tuned.

In honor of Global Astronomy Day 2010, Columbus State University's Coca-Cola Space Science Center will be holding a live evening webcast on Saturday, April 24. The webcast will start at 8:30 pm and continue through 10:30 pm. We will be showing live footage (if weather permits) and recently obtained images and animations of the currently visible planets, including Venus, Mars and Saturn, as well as our Moon. CSU astronomers and Space Science Center staff will be discussing topics such as the Moon's geology, Mars exploration, and Saturn, its moons, and rings. Viewers will be able to submit questions for the speakers to be answered after each segment's initial presentation. For more information, see the Space Science Center webpage, or go directly to the webcast page. (Microsoft Silverlight or a related browser plug-in will be needed.)

Space Shuttle Discovery was scheduled to land this morning at 8:48 am EDT, but that landing and the next opportunity today were both canceled due to cloudy conditions over Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The landing has been rescheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 7:33 am, with a backup time at 9:08 am. (If the weather continues to be troublesome, the landing may be diverted to a site in California).

From Columbus, the first pass will be near the horizon; the second pass will be higher up in the sky. Chances for an actual sighting are extremely low, but there's a possibility of hearing a sonic boom as the shuttle passes over shortly before its landing time.