Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope will hold a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, April 5 to announce the discovery of a strange place where planets might be forming.

Reporters must call the Jet Propulsion Laboratory media relations office by 4 p.m. EST April 4 at (818) 354-5011 for participation information. Images and graphics supporting the briefing will be posted online at the start of the briefing at:

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/spitzer-20060405.html

Audio of the event will be streamed live on the Web at: www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

Briefing participants:

– Deepto Chakrabarty, astrophysicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

– Chas Beichman, astronomer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

– Aleksander Wolszczan, astrophysicist, Penn State University, University Park, Pa.

A video file about the discovery will air on NASA TV on April 5. NASA TV is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. It’s available in Alaska and Hawaii on AMC-7 at 137 degrees west longitude, transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization.

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home