LEWISTON — The Bates College Museum of Art will kick off a fall series of events in conjunction with its “Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography” exhibit on Friday, Sept. 7, with a lecture about light pollution of the night sky.

Giving the talk will be J. Kelly Beatty, an award-winning writer who specializes in planetary science and space exploration for Sky & Telescope magazine.

“Starstruck” is among the first major exhibitions to treat astrophotography as an art genre. The exhibition, organized by Anthony Shostak, the museum’s curator of education, features 106 images by 35 artists from 11 countries across five continents.

“Their creations are nothing less than overwhelming, depicting humbling, glorious delights that are often invisible to both the naked eye and even the telescope, and are revealed only through photographic means,” Shostak said.

The exhibit, up through Dec. 15, is open to the public free of charge, as are lectures and star-viewing parties (weather-permitting), when visitors can see distant stars and galaxies through telescopes provided by the Bates Astronomy Club, Central Maine Astronomical Society and Southern Maine Astronomers. The museum  in the Olin Arts Center at 75 Russell St. is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and until 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Beatty is on the faculty at the Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Mass. He chairs the New England Light Pollution Advisory Group and is on the board of directors for the International Dark-Sky Association.

“For decades we’ve allowed the sprawl of civilization to steal ever more stars from our nighttime skies, but this loss doesn’t have to be permanent,” Beatty said. “Light pollution can be reversed easily by common-sense approaches that not only restore the night sky’s beauty but also provide safe, energy-smart lighting solutions.”

Beatty’s lecture will be at 6 p.m. in room 104 of the Olin Arts Center. A reception in the museum and a star-viewing party will follow, weather-permitting. Visitors will be able to experience firsthand views of deep-sky objects, planets, double stars and other wonders of the night sky, guided by amateur astronomers with years of experience and detailed knowledge of the sky.

A schedule of events centering around “Starstruck” follows:

Wednesday events: Solar telescopic viewings at noon; gallery talks at 12:30 p.m., led by museum of art education staff and interns, beginning Sept. 12.

Oct. 6: Parents & Family Weekend lecture, reception and star party. Jeffrey Kenney, a member of the Bates class of 1980 and a professor of astronomy at Yale University, will present a “Cosmic Questions” lecture on how to capture and interpret beautiful images of astronomical objects, and what they teach us. Lecture at 2:30 p.m. (Olin, room 104); reception (museum) at 3:30, star-viewing party, weather-permitting.

Oct. 17-20: Astrophotography workshop with Babak Tafreshi, founder of the website The World At Night and a “Starstruck” artist. Travel to Maine’s 100-mile wilderness to image the stars from West Branch Pond Camps for four nights. For workshop details, visit bates.edu/museum.

Oct. 27: Homecoming Weekend lecture, reception and star party. Boston-based photographer Sharon Harper will discuss her images in “Starstruck” and her forthcoming book. Lecture at 2:30 p.m. (Olin, room 104); reception (museum) at 3:30; star-viewing party, weather-permitting.

Nov. 3: “Cosmic Questions” lecture: Douglas Vakoch, director of interstellar message composition at the SETI Institute, will explore how we might convey the aesthetics of humanity to extraterrestrials. 6 p.m. (Olin, room 104); refreshments in the museum follow. 

Also planned, with dates to be announced, are artist talks and “Cosmic Questions” lectures by Tafreshi; Jacqueline Woods, a West Coast-based “Starstruck” artist; and Alicia Soderberg, an assistant professor of astronomy at Harvard.

For more information or to order the “Starstruck” catalog, call 786-6158 or visit  bates.edu/museum/exhibitions. The 242-page color catalog documents the exhibition, illustrates each work in it and features essays by jurors and Eric Wollman, professor of physics at Bates.