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# Santa Monica College Planetarium Shows Focus on Mars, Comets and Quaoar
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/011404-story-20040114/
- Published: 2004-01-14T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:32:09.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Events, Pico, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Mars, an upcoming comet expedition and the mysterious Quaoar will be the focus of Santa Monica College’s Planetarium shows and lectures for the remainder of January and into February.

The current feature show “Report from Mars,” continues Fridays on Jan. 16, 23, Feb. 6 and 20\. The show focuses on the robot explorers Spirit, Opportunity and Beagle II’s missions on the Red Planet. “Report from Mars” is at 8 p.m. and is preceded by “The Night Sky Show,” which recreates the night sky and provides the latest information on space exploration at 7 p.m.

Two guest lectures will explore other astronomical objects. “Rosetta: Unlocking Cometary Secrets,” featuring Claudia Alexander of the Jet Propulsion Lab, examines the Rosetta mission, due to launch in February, which will orbit Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The lecture is held at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30.

“Pluto, Quaoar & the Edge of the Solar System” takes a look at the recent discovery of Quaoar, an object in the mysterious Kuiper Belt at the edge of the solar system. The lecturer is Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, the codiscoverer of Quaoar. The lecture will be at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27\. The astronomy shows are held in the John Drescher Planetarium, which features the state-of-the-art Digistar projection system. It is located on the second floor of Drescher Hall, 1900 Pico Blvd. The guest lectures are in Science Lecture Hall 140.

Tickets are $5 each or $9 for the “double bill,” with discounts for children and senior citizens. For information, call (310) 434- 4223 or (310) 434-3000\. In other SMC news: A lecture by Laddie John Dill will be held in conjunction with the current Malibu Art Association Juried Show at at SMC’s Madison Campus, 11th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.

On Jan. 31, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., internationally recognized artist, Dill, of Venice, will share stories of the evolution of his work in many media including paint and neon, glass and sand, cement relief, and marbleized polymer.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 14, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/011404.pdf?ref=smdp.com)