Tuesday isn't generally known for being the night on which you boldly go where no man has gone before — but tonight's panel discussion, “Capturing the Final Frontier: NASA Animation and the Movies,” aims to change that. Presented by the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and hosted by Frank Marshall, who has produced everything from Raiders of the Lost Ark to The Bourne Legacy, tonight's program collects visuals from the films that inspire — and are inspired by — NASA space missions. Chiefly working in the field of animations, NASA JPL animator Eric De Jong sets the stage for the interplanetary triptych of conceptual animations that give scientists an idea of what their theoretical calculations look like in “real life.” Other collaborations between art and science include the documentary films Hubble 3-D (2010) and Roving Mars (2006) and the features Mission to Mars (2000) and, for some bizarre reason, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). There's also a taste of what the Curiosity Rover might encounter when it touches down in August on Mars — a place where the only previous result of the marriage of animation and science was Marvin the Martian. Samuel Goldwyn Theatre, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills; Tues., July 10, 7:30 p.m.; $5. (310) 247-3000, oscars.org.

Tue., July 10, 7:30 p.m., 2012

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