The Last Stargazers by Emily Levesque

Please join us for this in-store author event. Required tickets are a $5 per person GA or book purchase. Please call 541.306.6564 with any questions.
From a childhood reading of A Wrinkle in Time to discovering a new species of star, astronomer Emily Levesque has spent her life exploring the universe, and now she wants to share that exploration with the world.

For readers of Lab Girl and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, The Last Stargazers combines the exciting travels of award-winning astronomer Emily Levesque with the misunderstood antics of a scrappy (and shrinking) crew of scientists working with stars and telescopes. She dissects both the romance and the real human curiosity that is so important to our exploration of space.

From the lonely quiet of stargazing to wild bears loose in the observatory, now in paperback, these love stories of astronomy show how scientists are going beyond the machines to infuse important creativity and intimate passion into the stars, inspiring future generations to pursue the universe’s secrets.

EMILY LEVESQUE is a professor at the University of Washington and lives in Seattle. She received her SB in physics from MIT and a PhD from the University of Hawaii. She has won the American Astronomical Society’s Annie Jump Cannon Award and Newton Lacy Pierce Prize, among other awards.

Since 1968, Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory (SNCO) has served as a hub for environmental education in Central Oregon. The 8-acre campus is home to a nature center, classroom, botanic garden, and publicly accessible trails. Additionally, SNCO is the home to the only public access observatory with the largest collection of telescopes in the United States. Sunriver, Oregon is a designated Dark Sky Community by International Dark Sky Association. SNCO provides diverse experiential education opportunities for students, families, and visitors alike. Interactive exhibits and interpretive programs provide a deep look at the natural world and the universe beyond for local and regional visitors, as well as tourists from around the world. K-12 field trips, camps, lectures, and outreach programs are aimed at cultivating caring conservation attitudes for people of all ages.

Pine Mountain Observatory, located 34 miles southeast of Bend, is perched atop a mountain at an elevation of 6,300 feet. The observatory’s location is well placed to make the most of the dark skies that the Eastern Oregon high desert provides. The observatory is operated by the University of Oregon Department of Physics under a special use permit from the Deschutes National Forest. The observatory’s primary function is research and other astronomical observations, including basic and advanced scientific research. However education at all levels is also an important function and objective of the observatory.