George Pyle: Eclipse leads to sighting of a (media) star

I should have bought that book.

Because if I had bought ”Astrophysics for People in a Hurry,” rather than just read the first chapter while drinking coffee at Powell’s City of Books a couple of days before in Portland, I would have had a good excuse to talk to its author.

I like to think I would have waited until after he was finished reaching for the bacon at the breakfast buffet at the Riverside Hotel in Boise. But I could have found the right moment to offer my copy to Neil DeGrasse Tyson for an autograph and maybe a couple of friendly words. Maybe ask him if he was going to be on “The Orville,” the new sci-fi spoof from his friend Seth MacFarlane.

But just as I was realizing that that was who I thought it was, someone else said something like, ”You look familiar.” And Tyson, without looking up, muttered, ”I get that all the time.”

So, even though one reviewer of the new book described Tyson as “America’s most approachable astrophysicist,” it seemed that even big media stars like him get a little grouchy sometimes and need their space.

I read later that Tyson had left instructions not to be disturbed during the solar eclipse and didn’t tell the world where he was going to be observing it. Now that it’s over, and he’s likely back in Manhattenhenge, I can tell the world the truth. He was, like a lot of other folks, in Idaho.

And, according to the Idaho Statesman, he not only likes bacon. He likes ice cream.

—  Famed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson stops for taste of Boise eclipse-themed ice cream — By Katy Moeller | The Idaho Statesman

Tyson was in Boise at least once before. And the Statesman has this video of him, in his more familiar happy mood, discussing the science of motion pictures.

Ok, Doc. The next big solar eclipse to be seen in North America will be April 8, 2024. See you in Niagara Falls. I’ll buy the book this time.