Lincoln's Mueller Planetarium is playing a role in the NASA Mars mission.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln planetarium also is host to a unique Mars exhibit right now.

Director Jack Dunn says Mueller is one of about 70 museums and planetariums involved in what is called Mars Visualization Alliance. He says that is a network of places connected to the Jet Propulsion Lab in presenting the Mars images from the exploration rovers.

The newest Mars mission is giving the chance to look at the same pictures NASA sees almost instantly.

Dunn says it is really exciting to think the planetarium can get the images at the same time as other scientists, listen to their explanations and try to help people know about them.