Astronomer in Residence Catherine Slaughter: “Planet Habitability”

Wednesday, June 22       5:00 pm, Astronomer in Residence Catherine Slaughter: “Planet Habitability”

Catherine Slaughter is the inaugural Astronomer in Residence for the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve. She will live and work in Stanley from mid-June to mid-July, doing outreach and continuing her research. This Wednesday, Catherine will speak at the library about “Planet Habitability.” She’ll do another presentation on July 13 on “Native Astronomy” and will set up telescopes in the courtyard for public sun observatory.

The Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve was established in 2017 to preserve the quality of the night sky and reduce the impact of light pollution in the area. It’s the only reserve in the U.S. with a gold-tier status (the highest ranking).

Catherine is an early-career astrophysicist whose research interests are in computational astrophysics, especially the modeling of and search for exoplanets and very old stars. Her residency is sponsored by Boise State University Physics in partnership with NASA’s Science Activation Program. Click here to listen to an interview with Catherine on Boise State Public Radio’s “Idaho Matters” show. Find more information at Catherine’s research website: catherineslaughter.space.