ASTRONOMY: Celebrate summer's arrival

  You can celebrate summer’s arrival and learn more about the Sun on Saturday, June 21, with a visit to the Center for Environmental and Scientific Education in the Meadowlands.

   The event, which runs from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., features the center's Laura Venner talking about NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission. Laura will bring out special solar viewing equipment for a hands-on experience.

   You'll also learn about solar cycles, sun spots and the apparent motion of the Sun, and get a guided tour of the William McDowell Observatory, which opened earlier this year.

    Check-in at the Meadowlands Environment Center (the first building on the left) in the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission's headquarters at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst.

  The program will be held in the Astronomy Amphitheater in the Center for Environmental and Scientific Education, a short walk away.

   Participants will receive free space-weather posters, stickers, refrigerator magnets, and 3D cards and 3D glasses.

   Admission is $5; free to members of the Meadowlands Environment Center.  Pre-registration preferred, walk-ins welcome.