Weston Family Lab for Earth and Space Exploration Opens at Liberty Science Center to Celebrate Earth Day 2018

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JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 17, 2018 – Imagine being able to experience vivid global images of tectonic plate motion, melting sea ice, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes, and to be able to do so in real time. Thanks to the new Weston Family Lab for Earth and Space Exploration at Liberty Science Center, now you can. The Weston Family Lab, which opens this weekend to coincide with Astronomy Day on April 21 and Earth Day on April 22, is home to the New York metropolitan area’s only publicly accessible installation of the groundbreaking “Science on a Sphere” – a six-foot suspended globe developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that displays Earth and other planets of our solar system in brilliant detail.

The Weston Family Lab will be the most prominent education space for students and families visiting the Center and is made possible by a generous $2 million gift from Josh Weston, Co-Chair of LSC’s Board of Trustees and long-time supporter. While the adjacent newly opened Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium – the largest and most technologically advanced planetarium in the Western Hemisphere – offers spectacular journeys deep into the cosmos, the Weston Family Lab focuses attention on the wonders of planet Earth.

“There is no more important story for students and adults to visualize and understand than the story of what is happening to Earth’s climate,” said LSC President and CEO Paul Hoffman. “The Weston Family Lab, with its visually stunning Science on a Sphere and intriguing data-based lessons, brings this story to life in a most dramatic and memorable way.”

Daily public programming will explore our dynamic Earth, from charting planetwide volcanic activity over the past 30 days, to discovering how a time lapse of earthquakes over the last 20 years uncovers the planet’s plate boundaries, to tracking the course of Hurricane Sandy up the east coast. Educational lessons for school groups will range from exploring recent storms to delving into the Earth’s profound changes over time.

In celebration of its opening weekend, the Weston Family Lab experience will be free with general admission for all Liberty Science Center guests. Beginning Monday, April 23, public programs will be available with the purchase of a combination pass and are offered at 10:30 am, 1:30 pm, and 3:30 pm on weekends, and at 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm on weekdays. For more information and advance tickets, please visit LSC.org.

About Liberty Science Center

Liberty Science Center (LSC.org) is a 300,000-square-foot not-for-profit learning center located in Liberty State Park on the Jersey City bank of the Hudson near the Statue of Liberty. Dedicated to inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers and bringing the power, promise, and pure fun of science and technology to learners of all ages, Liberty Science Center houses the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, 12 museum exhibition halls, a live animal collection with 110 species, giant aquariums, a 3D theater, live simulcast surgeries, a tornado-force wind simulator, K-12 classrooms and labs, and teacher-development programs. More than 250,000 students visit the Science Center each year, and tens of thousands more participate in the Center’s off-site and online programs. Welcoming more than 650,000 visitors annually, LSC is the largest interactive science center in the NYC-NJ metropolitan area.