Date: Jun 30, 2011

Hofstra Brings Universe Down to Earth on National Mall

Free Astronomy Program in Washington, D.C. ** postponed until July 9 **

** The event has been postponed until JULY 9, 2011 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. **

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY –  For the second straight year, Hofstra University will sponsor an “Astronomy Night on the National Mall” in Washington, D.C. offering stargazing, exhibits, hands-on activities, multi-media presentations and the chance to meet some of the nation’s foremost astronomers.

The free public event is the evening will be July 8, 2011 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the National Mall between 4th Street and 7th Street. The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will participate by having its Public Observatory and the terrace surrounding the facility open for public viewing.  Museum staff members and volunteers will host the activity in and around the Observatory.

Astronomy Night on the National Mall is part of Hofstra’s astronomy public outreach program, run by Dr. Donald Lubowich, program coordinator. Dr. Lubowich also runs Hofstra's two-year-old NASA-funded Music and Astronomy Under the Stars program, which brings telescopes to concertgoers on Long Island, NYC, and at Tanglewood Music.

“Bringing Hofstra’s program to the National Mall gives us a very special opportunity to encourage children to pursue their interest and science and promote public understanding of science,” Lubowich said. “Gazing at the rings of Saturn or the Moon’s craters and mountains captures the imagination, no matter how old you are.”

Dr. Lubowich and local volunteers from the National Capital Astronomers, the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club, the Astronomical Association of Greenbelt, and the Goddard Astronomy Club will set up telescopes for a variety of viewing options. From 6 p.m. to dusk, visitors will be able to view sunspots with the help of specially-filtered telescopes, and hear the sounds of the Sun with a radio telescope. After dusk and until 11 p.m., telescopes will provide views of the first-quarter Moon, Saturn, its rings and moons, colorful double stars and star clusters.

Representatives from some of the nation’s foremost astronomical institutions will also be on hand, including the  Space Telescope Science Institute (Hubble Space Telescope) American Astronomical Society, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Heliophysics Division, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences, the Franklin Institute Science Museum, the Chandra X-ray Center/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from more than 150 undergraduate and 160 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied health services and honor studies, as well as a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.

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