Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – Hofstra's Astronomy Outreach program will receive  $308,000 through a NASA grant to bring telescopes to Long Island parks and beaches to encourage star-gazing and interest in astronomy. This is the third consecutive year that Hofstra’s Astronomy Outreach Program has been awarded a NASA grant.

The three-year grant will pay for telescopes and an astronomy display that will be set up during 70 outdoor music and six outdoor movie programs in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The program is also part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy being celebrated worldwide. The telescopes will be accessible to those with physical disabilities.

Astronomy Outreach Program Director Donald Lubowich, Ph.D., said that in addition to the park and beach programs, which attract 500 to10,000 people each, he plans to set up telescopes and the display at the annual New York Philharmonic concert at Heckscher State Park that is attended by more than  50,000 people each summer; on the boardwalk at Jones Beach State Park;  and at Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Lubowich began his summer-concert star-gazing outreach program three years ago. "In 2006, with the cooperation of Deputy Commissioner Daniel Pearl from the Town of Oyster Bay Department of Youth and Community Services, I brought a telescope to a summer concert at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in Oyster Bay," he said. "Most of the 700 people attending the concert took advantage of the chance to look at the moons of Jupiter."

Last year, Dr. Lubowich brought telescopes to two "Music under the Stars" and "Movies by Moonlight" programs through an arrangement with the Town of Oyster Bay. Volunteers from the Amateur Observers’ Society of New York and Custer Institute and Observatory in Southold assisted with telescope observations.

Hofstra University's Music and Astronomy Under the Stars involves the following partners: the Amateur Observers' Society of New York; the Townships of Hempstead, Huntington, Oyster Bay, and North Hempstead; the Islip Arts Council; Heckscher State Park; Jones Beach State Park; and the Tanglewood Music Festival.

NASA awarded $50,000 to Hofstra's Astronomy Outreach Program last year to bring star-gazing and hands-on astronomy activities to children receiving medical treatment at the Children’s Medical Center (Hagedorn Pediatric Inpatient Center) at Winthrop University Hospital. An earlier $44,500 NASA grant allowed Dr. Lubowich to purchase a telescope and train staff at the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island in New Hyde Park to work with hospitalized children and their families.

Hofstra's Astronomy Outreach Program also includes the ongoing Stars on Sunday observing sessions at the university’s observatory atop Herman A. Berliner Hall (Physics and Chemistry Building), which are open to the public, and work with local schools and non-profit programs. For more information on the Astronomy Outreach Program visit www.hofstra.edu/astronomy or call (516) 463-5582.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from more than 140 undergraduate and 155 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business; engineering; communication; education, health and human services;  and honors studies, as well as a School of Law. With a student-faculty ratio of 14-to-1, our professors teach small classes averaging 22 students that emphasize interaction, critical thinking and analysis. Hofstra offers a faculty whose highest priority is teaching excellence. The University also provides excellent facilities with state-of-the-art technology, extensive library resources and internship programs that match students’ interests and abilities with appropriate companies and organizations. The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future.