Astronomer to give a tour of the universe at CLU

An astronomer will give a layman’s tour of the universe starting at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 22, in California Lutheran University’s Samuelson Chapel.

Andrew Fraknoi, known for his ability to explain astronomical ideas and discoveries in everyday language, will present “If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Jupiter: A Grand Tour of the Universe.”

He will present the universe as astronomers understand it today, starting with the planets and moons of our solar system and then venturing out into the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond. Fraknoi will illustrate the tour with the latest color images from probes, the Hubble Space Telescope and the largest ground telescopes.

Fraknoi is the chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, an educational consultant for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and an advocate for improving the way science is taught in the nation’s schools. He has written or co-authored 14 books on astronomy and is the lead author of “Voyages Through the Universe,” one of the leading astronomy textbooks in the world. He is a frequent guest on local and national radio programs and has given more than 400 public lectures.

The International Astronomical Union named Asteroid 4859 “Asteroid Fraknoi” to honor him for sharing the excitement of astronomy with students, teachers and the public. Fraknoi received the highest honor in the field of astronomy education, the Annenberg Foundation Prize of the American Astronomical Society, in 1994. He also received the Klumpke-Roberts Prize of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for his contributions to popularizing astronomy and was the first community college instructor elected as a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences.

CLU’s Artists and Speakers Series is sponsoring the presentation. Donations will be accepted.

The university is located at 60 W. Olsen Road in Thousand Oaks.

For more information, please call (805) 493-3151.