When: Sunday, Aug. 20, 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Where: UNK Fine Arts Building, Miriam Drake Theater
Cost: Free
KEARNEY – This spring, University of Nebraska at Kearney faculty developed what became a popular series of presentations at the Planetarium to explore eclipse-related science, history and art.
Six of these faculty will repeat these presentations back to back at a PREclipse panel Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. at UNK’s Miriam Drake Theater.
“TEDtalk”-style, the mini-lectures will give eclipse audiences a wide array of topics to educate and entertain all ages the day before the Aug. 21 Great American Solar Eclipse. The panel is free and open to the public. The faculty presentations planned include:
- Joel Berrier, assistant professor, physics and astronomy: “Discoveries During Solar Eclipses.”
- Nate Bickford, associate professor, biology: “Wildlife Behavior When the Sun Turns Off.”
- Doug Biggs, professor, history: “Eclipses throughout history.”
- Adam Jensen, assistant professor, physics and astronomy: “Understanding other worlds.”
- Mariana Lazarova, assistant professor, physics and astronomy: “Total Solar Eclipses: Why, When, Where and How.”
- James Rohrer, professor, history: “Religious Responses to Eclipses Across Time and Cultures.”
The faculty will take questions and offer conversation opportunities during their brief talks.
The event is one of several planned during the weekend in Kearney, co-sponsored by UNK. Later that evening, Tabetha Boyajian, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University, will present a free public lecture beginning 7 p.m. at Merryman Performing Arts Center.
On Aug. 21, UNK hosts a free public watch party at Cope Stadium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. That event is cosponsored by NRG Media.
UNK began offering an astronomy major in 2014 and has the largest number of astronomy faculty in Nebraska who are active in research. For more information about UNK eclipse events, visit unk.edu/eclipse.
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