Neil DeGrasse Tyson "Search for Life In Universe" at Luther Burbank Theater

Last night Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson (NDT) spoke to a packed house at the Luther Burbank Theater in Santa Rosa.  "Let's get this straight"  said as he walked on stage to a cheering crowd, "You're all here on a Wednesday night to listen to me talk for two hours?"  NDT seemed delighted but incredulous to receive such a warm welcome from the crowd.  I was surprised by the number of children under ten in attendance along with numerous high school students.  NDT, a familiar face on PBS hosting science shows on the universe is known for being engaging, entertaining and enlightening.  He's garnered a large fan base, myself included.  The subject for the night was chosen from several topics offered by NDT.  I  was happy with the topic but curious as to the other choices. "To Infinity and Beyond," was shown on the visual screen, NDT's newest book he promoted and highlighted it on the NYT's bestseller list.  The size of the screen was that of a classroom's pulldown screen.   A much larger screen was warranted.  There was a lot of info circulated for the time allotted.  Only two weeks ago, more than 730 planets were confirmed by artificial intelligence (A/I), a long time, major tool used by the scientific community.  The reason there's push back now according to NDT is A/I can write term papers.  However, he maintains an ideal solution is to make all exams, orals.   It was ingenious identifying a "Goldilocks" range for sustaining life; "not too hot, not too cold," where water could flourish.  The slides showing channels and tributaries on Mars and Jupiter's moon were fascinating.  Early images suggesting a face and perhaps a human figure were exciting and dispelled when shown in higher resolution.  The disarming bent to NDT's method of communicating began to garner more propulsion than geared towards instructional substance. He showed us his "bad ass" persona in Marvel comics alongside superman.  A diatribe of foibles on "War of Worlds"starring Tom Cruise along with misconceptions of "Armageddon" and "Contact" movies were faulted for disregarding laws of physics.  It's a hard line to navigate, trying to relate or ingratiate an audience and still depart factual knowledge bearing scientific gravitas.  The discussion late in the program delved into aliens and the absurdities of what millions daily have reported as "Unknown Arial Phenomenons," as they're now called.  NDT is to be lauded for getting old and young people alike, not just "fellow nerds" engaged to learn more about our universe.  Perhaps, maintaining avid interest wanes when held captive for two plus hours.  "And, don't get me started on Pluto.  Although, claiming Pluto the 9th planet may have saved our solar system from alien invasion according to the cryptic message sent into outer space to relay our location in the galaxy."