stargazers live.... thoughts?

[Altair]

Much much better than last year. Crammed in as much content as they could. Well Done Beeb!

[Freff]

I was disappointed with it so far. Nothing much more than the usual science we get on the Discovery channels.

Hope it picks up in the next episodes.

[Astralstroll]

Have recorded it, so will try and cach up later in the week. Hopefully there will be a few nice and interesting bits to the series.

Dave.

[jabberwocky]

I thoroughly enjoyed it, apart from that annoying woman who always seems to go on a jolly.

thought Brian May was great, can we have more of him talking about space please, so enthusiastic and to answer a thread elsewhere yes he should take over presenting a certain monthly programme

[Ags]

I thought their video of Mars was a bit off - I felt immediately the view I got with my small Mak was much better than their video suggested. They seemed to be showing the effects of very poor seeing. People must have been very confused first seeing the blotchy vid of Mars and then the super-sharp and impressive photo of Jupiter. If they focused a bit more on the hobby side people might understand why the two views of the two planets were so diametrically opposite.

It was also a bit daft giving advice on viewing Mars this time of the year :-) I guess with all the Mars focus they felt they had to say where it was in the sky - but it would have been more honest to say 'don't bother'!

[freeflyjay]

i`m a newbie (relativly) got my first scope 11 months back (10" skywatcher dob), i did like the brian may saying he loves dobsonians, but you never see them on any of the programs, they need to show the public the different options out there and explain the differences, bang for buck (apperture) of the dob verse spending your money on electronics, i admit myself that i find it frustrating trying to find things but i have a few push to things i`m working on, then if you have an incling towards photography then donn`t just buy a goto then buy an equatorial goto...these are lessons i`m learning but i could never go back from the apperture for visual observing, although for just the planet it`s not as important, they could clear so many of these thing up in 5 minuits of the program, it`s just a shame it will inspire so many people to get a telescope only to find they have brought the wrong one for there own passion.

[Set Phasers To Malky]

I hate to say it but I found it boring. I agree with an earlier poster who said why couldn't they have a number of outside units in case JB was in cloud? Don't get me wrong, I found some of it interesting but maybe we were spoiled by last years....

[JamesF]

I thought it wasn't bad. Nice to see the discussion about different possible origins of life and I picked up a few other things I wasn't aware of. Very glad John Culshaw wasn't on it, and very pleased Brian May was as I think he made a positive contribution. I can't help wondering if there isn't someone regularly speaking in Dara's ear telling him to move things along. Certainly it feels that way sometimes.

It would be interesting to see what they'd do if they did get some really decent clear skies for a few nights. I don't recall that it's been particularly great for any of the programmes yet. I'd agree that it comes across more as "Horizon Lite" than anything specifically to do with stargazing.

Liz Bonnin though, either she needs to be given something to do where she can actually put her academic background to use, or they need to replace her with someone who can do interviews without coming across as quite so vacuous

James

[cantab]

If they don't get a night of clear skies this year I can see the beeb pulling the plug on it.

Nah, lack of clear skies won't be an issue. Lack of audience would.

On the timing, I think the main pro of the current scheduling is that people are going to have gotten scopes for Christmas, and so it's a good time to get people using them. The participation, beyond the tv program, is a big part of it I think. Schedule before Christmas and there won't be as many people in the position to go out and look at stuff. I assume that if there were clear skies we'd see a fair bit more practical hands-on stuff - I wonder if some of the night's "off topic" stuff wasn't filler due to the clouding out. As it is they did manage to cover the main planetary target at the moment - just a shame it's not the planet they spent most of the night chatting about!

Also, I question whether January is really much if any less likely to have clear skies than March or any other time of year.

I was a bit miffed by all the focus on NASA. Even when a probe was mentioned like Cassini which was joint ESA-NASA, ESA was never even mentioned. And then when plans for future missions to Mars were mentioned, ESA's exciting medium term plans were not mentioned, nor the fact that NASA pulled its own funding for those very missions.

People (like UKIP) question the value of ESA, and it is not helped when a European program sounds like it was made for NASA TV, with one mention of ESA in the entire show, with even a live video link to the NASA cafeteria! Just grumbling.

Well, considering the outstanding successes of Spirit and Opportunity, and Curiosity safely landed and working, I don't think it's misplaced to focus on NASA in the context of a program mainly about Mars. Now hopefully the next episode will redress the America-centricness and tell us about the E-ELT.

[Black Knight]

I can't help wondering if there isn't someone regularly speaking in Dara's ear telling him to move things along. Certainly it feels that way sometimes.

James

I'd be amazed if there weren't actually. In the after show, you could see Brian Cox had removed his earpiece.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk, so please excuse the speeling and granma!

[JamesF]

I'd be amazed if there weren't actually. In the after show, you could see Brian Cox had removed his earpiece.

I noticed that. I wondered if it was his way of saying "I can do what I want now, 'cos I can't hear you"

James

[RikM]

I enjoyed for what it was. The aftershow was more engaging than the actual episode for me. It is nice to see some discussion of subjects rather than 'presenting' sound bites. As others have said, not much 'Stargazing' but then, that is essentially what the hobby is in the UK. Set the kit up, realise it cloudy, have a chat instead

[Black Knight]

I noticed that. I wondered if it was his way of saying "I can do what I want now, 'cos I can't hear you"

James

Hehehe, he probably didn't have any presenting duties for that part of the show. Dara was probably running it at that point.

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[EBXL5]

As a new comer to the world of astronomy I found tonights programme interesting and varied. The rushed feeling that others have expressed was evident however the second half was leagues better IMHO. The chat between Brian May and the other studio members was fantastic, Baddiel was dreadful though with little to contribute and too much camera time.

I hope not too many forum contributors will seek to bash Stargazing Live and try to exclusivise the interest.

In general a great programme which my whole family enjoyed, we'll done the Beeb!

[Black Knight]

As others have said, not much 'Stargazing' but then, that is essentially what the hobby is in the UK. Set the kit up, realise it cloudy, have a chat instead

Quite. Just what stargazing under British skies is all about

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk, so please excuse the speeling and granma!

[L8-Nite]

The program was OK, but I don't think it did much to promote telescope and equipment sales, so I guess most will not have to wait too long for out of stock items at your favorite vendors.

[JamesF]

I'd forgotten that they showed what you'd actually see through a 4" telescope when looking at Jupiter. I thought that was a good thing to do. The video clip of Mars provoked radically different reactions here. I saw it and thought "Oh, I can see the polar cap and definitely make out different colouration across the surface of the planet" whilst my wife said "How can he see the polar cap? All I can see is a fuzzy red blob!". Perhaps I've spent too long looking at planetary capture videos

James

[Black Knight]

Yeah, that was good. Explaining about the orbits of Jupiters moons was good as well. The video of Mars was about as good as I've seen Mars at the eyepiece anyway!

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[Tddun]

I really enjoyed it, and even though I don't think my astronomy knowledge is that extensive I still learnt some interesting things from the show.. I agree with the majority that the after show was really interesting, but it does seem just too rushed.

[Tinker1947]

I think they should schedule a couple a year the way the weather is, lasts night cloudy night would have left them high and dry if they didn't have the mars stuff to fall back on, lets hope for better sky's on days 2 and 3

[Black Knight]

I think they should schedule a couple a year the way the weather is, lasts night cloudy night would have left them high and dry if they didn't have the mars stuff to fall back on, lets hope for better sky's on days 2 and 3

For some reason last year I thought the BBC were doing a follow-up show at Easter, which I thought was a good idea what with possibly better weather. Unfortunately it was all in my head. Dunno where I got that idea from - I must have dreamed it!

I may be wrong, but I get the sense that the show wouldn't actually be much different even if the skies were clear. The short segment when Mark showed the recorded video of Jupiter and Mars may have shown live stargazing if the weather had played ball, but more than that? Don't know. Perhaps we'll see - if the weather improves

[cosmological]

I'd be amazed if there weren't actually. In the after show, you could see Brian Cox had removed his earpiece.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk, so please excuse the speeling and granma!

It fell out.

[Mansnake]

I did like hearing more information regarding curiosity but i have known for ages what its been sent for, i want to know what its been doing and have they taken samples etc...

The show wasn't all that good to be honest, i really don't get why dara is even there as hes not funny at all. I also felt it was more a scientific program rather than stargazing. I think they should actually show people what different telescopes look like and how affordable they are etc... and what we can expect to see with different apertures.

If they are so hell bent on keeping it in January then maybe they should do it twice a year to have a better chance of actually 'stargazing' !

But agreed its good to have something on to raise interest in stargazing/science in general

I just hope it gets better....

[studdedsole]

Missed it live because we were clear over here and the local astro club had arranged an observing session at a local park on the outskirts of town. Around 100 people of mixed ages turned up and enjoyed looking through the many scopes members brought along and my kids enjoyed showing their friends some good views through a small 80mm grab and go and 8x40 bins.

Watched it on sky+ later with the wife and three kids and the whole family really enjoyed the whole night, with ages from 13 to 52yrs and varying levels of understanding there was something for us all to maintain interest.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

I have to admit that I was nodding off half way through.Too much emphasis on Mars,Curiosity etc ('Horizon' territory,I thought)and not enough advice on practical observing.The little bit about what YOU could see tonight was good,and would be of help to total beginners,but wasn't long or detailed enough.The astro weather forcast was good.The discussion section that followed was better,imho.Still,ANYTHING about astronomy on T.V. has to be welcomed.