The Web site Patheos reported on Thursday that Dr. Katelyn N. Allers, an associate physics professor at Bucknell, was “felt up” by Tyson after taking a photo with him at a 2009 party.

“After we had taken the picture, he noticed my tattoo and kind of grabbed me to look at it, and was really obsessed about whether I had Pluto on this tattoo or not . . . and then he looked for Pluto, and followed the tattoo into my dress,” Allers told the Web site.