BY KAREN BOSSICK
Experts are streaming into Sun Valley as the Great American Eclipse nears. And they’re lining up like the sun, the earth and the moon to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about total solar eclipses in a plethora of free talks.
Here’s a rundown on the upcoming talks:
FRIDAY, AUG. 18, 5-7 p.m.—Bryan Brewer, author of the 110-page book “ECLIPSE,” will speak at The Community Library in Ketchum as part of the library’s Third Annual Lit Walk. Brewer will offer a slide presentation about the history and science behind eclipses and field questions at 5, 5:30, 6 and 6:30 p.m.
While admission is free, you can buy a food and drink ticket for $15 to enjoy tasty bites from some of Ketchum’s finest restaurants as you enjoy other events along the Lit Walk. For more information, see Eye on Sun Valley’s Aug. 11 story, “Nothing Will Eclipse Third Annual Lit Walk” or call 208-726-3493.
FRIDAY, AUG. 18, 5 p.m.—Eric Edelman, a SLOOH astronomer, will present “Starlight and Darkness: Idaho’s 21st Century Total Solar Eclipse, for the Sawtooth Forum and Lecture Series. The program will be held at the Stanley Museum in the town of Stanley.
Edelman used Hubble data to obtain measurements for the stellar wind strengths of solar-like stars while obtaining his Master’s degree in Astronomy. He is a show presenter for Slooh, combining his passion for astronomy and storytelling. He is also show presenter at Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
SATURDAY, AUG. 19, NOON—Astronomer Carolyn Rankin-Mallory and eclipse chaser Leona Rice will speak at the Ketchum Town Square.
Rankin-Mallory was recently a member of the NASA team that discovered 17 previously unknown stars. She divides her time between NASA research and college teaching.
Rice grew up on the Sonoran Desert surrounding Tucson, Ariz., where the Milky Way was her chief form of entertainment during summer nights. A California legislator for three terms, she retired after 20 years as executive director of The Doctors Company Foundation.
SATURDAY, AUG. 19, 4:30 p.m.--Astronomer Jeff Silverman will speak at Ketchum's Community Library.
SUNDAY, AUG. 20, NOON—Astronomer Jeff Silverman will speak at the Ketchum Town Square. Silverman is a data scientist at Samba TV. But before that he was a National Science Foundation Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas-Austin. He received his Ph.D. in astrophysics at the University of California-Berkeley where he worked on observations of exploding stars and dark energy.
SUNDAY, AUG. 20, 5:30 p.m.—Dr. Rachel Osten of the American Astronomical Society will speak on “Revealing the Hidden, High-Energy Sun” in the Sun Valley Inn’s Limelight Room. The lecture, which had previously been scheduled for the Sun Valley Opera House, is part of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts’ “Night Watch” exhibition, which features art dealing with the night sky at The Center, Fifth and Washington streets in Ketchum.
Olsten is an associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., and deputy head of the Hubble Space Telescope Mission Office. Her expertise lies in studying nearby stars as if they’re suns. Olsten will describe what solar features revealed during solar eclipses tell us about the sun and its structure. She will also talk about what astronomers are learning about the nearest stars and their abilities to make good homes for other planets.
She is part of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society, which is holding a scientific meeting in Sun Valley during the total solar eclipse.
MONDAY, AUG. 21—Astronomer Jeff Silverman, who spoke on Sunday, will speak at the Great American Eclipse Party hosted by the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley at Festival Meadows on Sun Valley Road. The party, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. will also include yoga, music, kids’ activities and food vendors.
Silverman is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m., and he will speak up to and after totality, according to Lisa Enourato, Ketchum’s assistant city administrator.