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Verdict on Stargazing Live 2012


M4lcs67

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I do think that this could be the perfect opportunity for the Sky At Night to take over where Stargazing Live has left off and move things into the 21st century.

I guess with the fact that it has been running for so long it has been moved to the graveyard shift (middle of the night), but with this newly found exposure/interest with the cosmo it has to be moved to a more prominent slot on the BBC's schedule. I guess when the unthinkable happens and Sir Patrick hangs up his scope for the last time there will be a wealth of possible candidates for the presenters position.

In any case I think if the BBC don't take notice of the impact of Stargazing Live and transfer it to the Sky At Night then it will be an opportunity missed,

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I thought it was excellent. A good mix of stuff, and I like how they have taken a leaf out of the format of springwatch / autumnwatch with the type of open forum for the last half hour. Works really well and some good chemistry between Dara and Brian, as well as the other profs and researchers that contributed to it.

Great to see knowledgeable folk relating some complex topics articulately, and really good to see guests like John Bishop and Jon Culshaw setting off some compelling discussions.

I'd just be happier if it went to twice a year :D

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Huge improvement on last year!

Although it has created quite a bit of interest I wonder how long it will last. Television has a habit of 'creating a stir' only to let it all drift away. As Malc pointed out, what a good opportunity to carry this forward; but do the BBC have the inclination to do so? It will be interesting to see how this affects the viewing figures for The Sky at Night for the next few months.

Overall though, really enjoyed all the shows and the events put on by my local group have been VERY well attended

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I really enjoyed it, never saw last year's so can't compare but I learn't a few things from the show and also understood all of it, having been massively interested in Physics and Cosmology since I was in my late teens.

Even the Wife watched the second and third episode and was hooked, asking questions so that she could understand what they were saying etc as I think some of it would go over many people's heads, but then, if you didn't get any of it, you wouldn't have been interested in watching it in the first place.

Great to see the pictures that members of these forums have taken!

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I thought it was good, especially the first picture on the second day :-) (though I missed it and it was friends on facebook who alerted me to it being shown, with me seeing it later on iPlayer).

I had my scope set up in the garden on Monday and though I invited near neighbours only two (plus my daughter) came out to view anything. The neighbour's son (to whom we'd earlier been explaining that the moving lights were planes) actually spotted an iridium satellite (I later checked on calsky that it was in fact one) which I'd not seen before.

Jonathan Woss was not missed. He seems to revel in publicly displaying his incompetence in any field. Not just because of that, it was better this year.

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A thumbs up from me for this series. The only small point is that it could do with more "live stargazing" as this is, after all the title of the program.

As the weather is shall we say, a tad unreliable in this country pre-recorded pictures/video of planets, nebulae, etc would have been good in case the cloud rolled in.

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I've not watched the final programme yet, but from what I've seen it was an improvement on last year (at times I wasn't quite sure who the show was aimed at last year).

In particular, the shows this year far better addressed astronomy activity at the grass-roots level as well as featuring a great range of experts & pundits. Also, if I'm honest, it's the post-Stargazing Live "Back to Earth" discussion show that I liked the most.

I wonder if they'd consider doing this twice a year now (similar to Springwatch/Autumnwatch).

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A popular success. Who knows what the "powers that be" will do re. future programs? Research Science seems ubiquitously lauded... but as to real-world budgets? Brian and Jim seem happy (BBC) corporate men - I sense Sir Patrick was a tad more circumspect and occasionally irreverent. <G> Maybe BBC4 - But even that seems to be on it's uppers lately? :)

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I thought it was overall well done, I liked the sequences from South Africa as that's a bit of sky I don't normally see :)

But I felt they could have done a little more live stargazing instead of quite so much live talking about stargazing in places.

Getting out the studio and cutting from one presenter at one event to another somewhere else might have worked to show a broader range of the events going on. Maybe at the end of each show telling people where events were going to be the following night?

I think there's a audience for either a stargazing live branded show or a more outreach orientated prime time special of the sky at night later on in the year when we have different constellations overhead.

Tyr

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A massive thumbs up! Really enjoy how they cover more complex issues and break it down to digest alot easier :)

I hope it returns again next year - I am looking forward to seeing what info they get back from the new Mars mission in search of water they were talking about in the final episode!

I wish we had more dark skies here in the UK...even if for 1 day a month all the lights get turned out :)

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Its Stargazing Live and Brian Cox's Wonders collection that has inspired me to take up astrology. Im glad to hear that the series will now be returning January every year.

It's written in the stars!

And having consulted my tealeaves, I can see it's time to pick the kids up from school...

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I thought it was great and allowed me especially to understand things more such as the moon, black holes. I thought the moon first episode was great and really made me astonished at things i didn't know about it even though we see it so often, such as it appears upside down in the south and i thought the pictures of the landings were awesome. I didnt catch the second episode because it said it was on at 9pm on my tv but then was on at 8:30pm. The last episode was also great explaining about galaxies and how we would find alien life. I think that it would be better if they had some images live from telescopes and if it was on live a little more throughout the year. My verdict i thought it was inspiring to go out with the telescope more and allow people to get into astronomy.

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Is it just me who has trouble understanding that Irishman Dara O'Briain?

Which is ironic because he's from the same Irish east coast town as me! :)

All joking aside, its not his accent but the fact that he fumbles over his words a lot of the time.

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Its Stargazing Live and Brian Cox's Wonders collection that has inspired me to take up astrology. Im glad to hear that the series will now be returning January every year.

First rule of Astronomy club...You don't talk about Astronomy Club

Second rule of Astronomy Club...You don't call it Astrology Club! :)

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Great program for getting folk interested. unfortunatly an interest in all things astro risks becoming a fashon item. 3 people at work today quizing me about what scope they should buy (so they can brag to there friends about how with the curent scene they are) only for there scopes and interest to fade away as soon as the next big thing is in!!.

will stop there before i go of on a rant about shallow people (who are well known for being so).

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3 people at work today quizing me about what scope they should buy (so they can brag to there friends about how with the curent scene they are) only for there scopes and interest to fade away as soon as the next big thing is in!!.

I shall look out for their forthcoming ebay sale then! :)

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First rule of Astronomy club...You don't talk about Astronomy Club

Second rule of Astronomy Club...You don't call it Astrology Club! :)

Lol. I can see the error of my ways, forgive me I am a newbie :)

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Good move in a positive direction from last year and I like that they actually suggested it may continue next year! I guess it's quite hard to get the balance and not be too techy & nerdy without dumbing it down too much. I'd have liked to have seen more actual "stargazing". Thumbs up that they also added the extra half hour program. You did feel that they were always pressed for time.. which is a good thing I think.

Great to see some familiar SGL forum names images up there... well done :)

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