Exploring the Milky Way free presentation set Nov. 17

The Overfalls Foundation will host Exploring the Milky Way, a free presentation by Jim O’Leary, at 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 17, at Lewes Public Library.

“We live in an enormous city of stars known as the Milky Way Galaxy, consisting of billions of stars and likely as many planets. Inside our galaxy, we see new stars being born – even new solar systems – and older stars dying, all within spectacularly beautiful and colorful nebulas, many of them revealed in the images of the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Only within the past century have we come to understand that our galaxy is only one of literally several trillion scattered through the cosmos,” said O’Leary. “Join us for a grand tour of our home in space, the Milky Way Galaxy.”

Now retired, O’Leary served as chief astronomy specialist for the Maryland Science Center, producing programs for the Davis Planetarium and films for the IMAX 3D Theater, many of which played in theaters worldwide. He also oversaw renovation of the science center’s rooftop observatory and its 1927-era telescope, and has offered dozens of science workshops for educators across the mid-Atlantic region.

O’Leary has received education grants from NASA, NSF, NOAA and Johns Hopkins University, and, as part of an NSF-funded program, he traveled to Chile to visit astronomical observatories, and meet with astronomers and educators.