PORTSMOUTH Margaritas Mexican Restaurant will host a fund-raiser Thursday, June 6, to support the New England Fall Astronomy Festival.

The festival was created in 2011 to educate the general public on the cosmos and to encourage young people to pursue careers in the sciences. Held annually at the University of New Hampshire Observatory, the two-day event is full of activities for children, astronomy and space science displays, talks given by leading scientists, a variety of exhibits, and time to observe the sun, moon, planets and other astronomical objects firsthand. All activities are free and open to the public. This year's program is set for Sept. 13-14.

This year's keynote speaker is science writer Dava Sobel, author of "Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love," "Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" and "The Planets and A More Perfect Heaven."

Organizers of Thursday's event will show telescope views of Saturn and other bodies in the restaurant parking lot during the fund-raiser, if the weather permits. Fifteen percent of proceeds from the evening's sales will go to support this year's programming at the festival. The fund-raiser will be held from 4 to 11 p.m., when the restaurant closes. For details on the festival, visit http://www.physics.unh.edu/observatory/nefaf.

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Margaritas to host fund-raiser for astronomy festival