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MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov 

Lisa Townsend  (818) 393-5464
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.                       
June 09, 2003

News Release: 2003-083

Scope Out NASA's Space Observatory Finale

An upcoming mission that will study the darkest and dustiest regions
in the cosmos will be explored in two free lectures to be held on
Thursday, June 12, at JPL, and Friday, June 13, at Pasadena City
College.

Dr. Michelle Thaller, an astronomer with NASA's Space Infrared
Telescope Facility, will discuss the mission, which is the fourth and
final of NASA's Great Observatories. Unlike its predecessors -- the
Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Compton
Gamma Ray Observatory -- the Space Infrared Telescope Facility will
use sensitive infrared technology.  It will unveil new information
about galaxies, stars, and dusty discs around nearby stars, which may
be "planetary construction zones."

It is also the first new mission under NASA's Origins program, which
seeks to answer the questions: Where did we come from? Are we alone? 
The mission is scheduled for launch in late August.

Thaller devotes more than half her time to public education and
outreach as a representative for the Space Infrared Telescope
Facility and other Origins missions at JPL. She frequently visits Los
Angeles Unified School District classrooms and conducts regular
teacher workshops in the L.A. metropolitan area. She also writes a
monthly science column for the Christian Science Monitor and has made
numerous appearances on television, including KCET's Life and Times
and the Discovery Channel.

Both lectures are free, open to the public and begin at 7 p.m. 
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The lecture at JPL,
located at 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, off the Oak Grove Drive
exit of the 210 (Foothill) Freeway, will be held in the von Karman
Auditorium. The Friday lecture will be in Pasadena City College's
Vosloh Forum, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd.  For more information, call
(818) 354-0112 or go to
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/jun03.html ,

where the Thursday lecture will be webcast live and archived for
later viewing.

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