Famed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson stops for taste of Boise eclipse-themed ice cream

While stargazers around Idaho were counting down the final hours until the Great American Eclipse this weekend, one of the country’s best-known astronomers was spotted in Boise tasting an eclipse-themed ice cream.

Neil deGrasse Tyson was rumored to have stopped at Delsa’s Ice Cream Parlor more than once in recent days — and one of the servers confirmed she saw him there Saturday.

The astrophysicist tried a couple of different ice cream flavors, including the popular “hot fudge eclipse,” she said.

That’s made with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Tyson also tasted the sweet potato with marshmallow ice cream, she said.

Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and host of radio show “Star Talk,” isn’t making his eclipse-viewing location public, according to Space.com. He didn’t respond to a query Sunday about whether he’s watching the eclipse someplace in Idaho.

The Gem State is drawing visitors who want to be in the “path of totality,” where the moon will block out 100 percent of the sun late Monday morning.

Last year, Tyson made national news for his takedown of an Idaho Falls radio talk show host who called him a “jackass” in an opinion piece published in the Twin Falls Times-News. Neal Larson, who based his piece on a fake news story, stopped writing his column soon after. Tyson spoke about the depiction of science and space in the movies in his appearance at the Morrison Center in Boise last summer.

He has some advice for those watching the Great American Eclipse: Don’t try to record it with your phone or other device.

“Experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically,” he told an audience at the American Museum of History last week.

Delsa’s Ice Cream Parlor, 7923 Ustick Road, makes more than 100 different flavors of ice cream, with about 30 available at any given moment. The shop took honors for best local ice cream and frozen yogurt in this year’s “Best of Treasure Valley.”

This story was originally published August 20, 2017 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Famed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson stops for taste of Boise eclipse-themed ice cream."