Robert Mathieu, chair of the astronomy department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was not the only one with his head in the stars Wednesday night when he gave his lecture “Stars That Go Bump in the Night!” in the Phipps Lecture Hall in the Physical Science Building.

Students, faculty and the community came prepared with questions that surprised Mathieu himself.

Mathieu said he was “extremely impressed with the creativity of the questions from the youngest member in the audience to the oldest,” and described Eastern as a “lively intellectual environment,” as he answered questions from Eastern astronomy students, faculty and community members.

Mathieu was not the only one impressed.

Jeff Boshart, an Eastern art professor, was impressed with the presentation.

“Anyone who can explain astrophysics to an art major isn’t too bad,” he said.

Mathieu broke down complex theories and diagrams about stellar evolution and stellar dynamics so the entire audience could understand and participate in the lecture.

“Everything he spoke about was really intelligent material, but I was able to understand it all and that made it really interesting,” said Steven Ochoa, a sophomore industrial technology major.

After the lecture, Mathieu continued to interact with the audience.

He spent time helping a student with the stress of applying for graduate school and even took time to help another student focus on what she wanted out of her time at Eastern.

Mathieu was the last lecturer in Eastern’s celebration of the International Year of Astronomy.

An open house at the observatory Friday will continue with the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy.

The public is invited to view Saturn, weather permitting, at 8:30 p.m. If the skies are clear, attendees will be able to view globular clusters, which are groups of stars that orbit galactic cores.

The observatory is located southwest of the Campus Pond.

Scott Hepner can be reached at 581-7942 or at [email protected].