TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama’s astronomy department will hold a free public sky viewing of nebulae, star clusters and galaxies at UA’s Moundville Archaeological Park on Friday, March 28 from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m.

Dr. Bill Keel, professor of astronomy, will deliver a short lecture before guests look through the two telescopes at Moundville. The telescopes are set up on a pad in the field across the road from the museum. The park does not charge after-hours admission for this program.

“Both Jupiter and Saturn are well placed right now, so we’ll try to have a telescope trained on one of them most of the time,” Keel said. He will have a handout prepared for visitors.

Some favorite spring targets include the Orion Nebula (M42), Crab Nebula (M1), globular star cluster (M3) and Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). Pictures of these can be seen in Keel’s personal collection at www.astr.ua.edu/gallery2t.html.

This is the third public viewing of the spring semester. Contact UA’s department of physics and astronomy at 205/348-5050 to check on sky conditions and for more information.

The department of physics and astronomy is in the College of Arts and Sciences, UA’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state, with approximately 5,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students. The College has received national recognition for academic excellence, and A&S students have been selected for many of the nation’s top academic honors, including 15 Rhodes Scholarships, 13 Goldwater Scholarships, seven Truman Scholarships and 15 memberships on USA Today’s Academic All-American teams.