** watch future Linda Hall Library lectures live at new.livestream.com/lindahall ** June 15, 2017, in the Main Reading Room of the Linda Hall Library The lecture: The last time the Kansas City area saw a total eclipse of the Sun was in 1806, nearly a century before cars began using roads. On August 21, 2017—just a few months from now—the area will see a total eclipse of the Sun. This lecture will describe how Nature’s finest spectacle happens, how incredibly rare it is, and how best to enjoy it. Not to worry if you sleep through it; the next total solar eclipse in Kansas City will be on June 17, 2672! The speaker: David H.  Levy is one of the most successful comet discoverers in history.  He has discovered 22 comets, nine of them using his own backyard telescopes. With Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California he discovered Shoemaker-Levy 9, the comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994. That episode produced the most spectacular explosions ever witnessed in the solar system. Levy is currently involved with the Jarnac Comet Survey, which is based at the Jarnac Observatory in Vail, Arizona but which has telescopes planned for locations around the world. Video produced by The VideoWorks of Roeland Park, Kansas.

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