Astronomy Night on the US National Mall

12 July 2010

15 July 2010 (rain date 16 July 2010), 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Hofstra University’s Astronomy Outreach Program and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are teaming up to host a free public stargazing party on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 

Astronomy Night on the National Mall expands upon the success of 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 Center and is run by Dr. Donald Lubowich, Coordinator of Astronomy Outreach at Hofstra. Lubowich and OSTP planned the National Mall event to coincide with a performance of the U.S. Marine Corp Band at the Sylvan Theater on the Mall that night. 

“Bringing Hofstra’s program to the National Mall and partnering with the White House is a very special opportunity for us to promote public science education and encourage children to pursue classes and careers in science,” Dr. Lubowich said. “There’s just something awe inspiring about gazing at the rings of Saturn, or the Moon, that captures the imagination, no matter how old you are.” 

Dr. Lubowich and local volunteers from the National Capital Astronomers and the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club will set up telescopes, posters, and video equipment for multimedia presentations just northeast of the Washington Monument, between 14th and 15th Streets NW and Madison Drive and Constitution Ave. Starting at 6 p.m., visitors will be able to gaze at the Sun with the help of specially filtered telescopes. After dusk and until 11 p.m. telescopes will provide close-up views of the crescent Moon, Venus, Mars, Saturn, star clusters, and nebulae. Click here to view a map of where Astronomy Night on the Mall will be held. 

“Astronomy Night on the National Mall” will take place just blocks away from the South Lawn of the White House, where President Obama hosted a star party last October. Both events are part of the Obama Administration’s ongoing effort to inspire more boys and girls to become interested in classes and careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. 

For more information and the 2010 schedule for “Astronomy and Music Under Stars” go to www.hofstra.edu/underthestars.

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