Off the Page: Phil Plait, "The Bad Astronomer"

Discover the cosmos with Dr. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer! Book sales and signing included. It all started because astronomer Phil Plait got tired of news coverage repeating myths about balancing an egg on an equinox, planetary alignments causing earthquakes, and the 'faked' moon landing. He created a website called 'Bad Astronomy', and started calling out bad science online. Clearing up widespread scientific misconceptions naturally evolved into sharing the science he loved as well. He found readers eager to hear his concise, accessible, and sometimes funny explanations about both basic theory and the latest advances. Twenty years later, Dr. Plait is known as the Bad Astronomer and has written three popular science books "Bad Astronomy," "Death From The Skies!" and "Under Alien Skies." He wrote and hosted "Crash Course Astronomy," a 46-part educational web series that has nearly 80 million views and is frequently used in schools. He was the head science writer for Season 1 of "Bill Nye Saves the World" on Netflix, and currently writes a weekly astronomy column for Scientific American. He writes the thrice-weekly Bad Astronomy newsletter that keeps subscribers apprised of the latest sky news, and is known for his social media presence. He has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Pax TV, Tech TV, Syfy, Radio BBC, Air America, NPR, and many other television and internet venues. His writing has appeared in Discover magazine, Sky and Telescope, Scientific American, Astronomy magazine, Night Sky magazine, Space.com, and more. Dr. Plait earned his doctorate in astronomy at the University of Virginia, and worked on the Hubble Space Telescope as a NASA contractor at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The Bookdragon's Lair Bookstore will be selling books at the event.