stargazers live.... thoughts?

[meteoriot]

Just quickly logged in to ask if anyone know what Brian Cox's latest tweet was about referring to stargazers lounge, last nights beer consumption and stargazing live??? Lol

Richard

[Daz1974]

@ProfBrianCox: Like the hypothesis in Stargazers Lounge that @BBCStargazing gets better in proportion to amount of beer we consumed the previous night.

[meteoriot]

I haven watched the programs yet as I was busy working on my new website however. I think it's superb that this wonderful subject is getting some tv coverage and new people are getting involved. It's superb! Science and astronomy should be part of popular culture without a doubt and anything that encourages this gets my vote regardless.

[zedds]

Great show again tonight I thought.

[meteoriot]

@ProfBrianCox: Like the hypothesis in Stargazers Lounge that @BBCStargazing gets better in proportion to amount of beer we consumed the previous night.

Yes that one! What is he referring too and don't you need an account to view what's happening on here?

[JamesF]

Yes that one! What is he referring too and don't you need an account to view what's happening on here?

They have spies everywhere

He is referring to this post, I'm sure:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/173106-stargazers-live-thoughts/page__st__180#entry1772878

And no, you don't need an account to read, only to post.

James

[Pete Presland]

perhaps this is him

http://stargazerslounge.com/user/11180-dream/

[Gary23]

I really enjoy the programme, however I do feel that the title is a little misleading. There seems to be little emphasis on "Stargazing Live" as even with clear skies they spend no more than 5 mins out in the field a night. Last night's episode had more of a feel of a Live 'Horizon' episode about Mars Curiosity.

Any Science based programme I will watch (as a rule) and this falls into that category. It's better than all the other rubbish that is usually on TV.

As I've already said though, I do like it but I would prefer a bit more time spent actually "Stargazing".

- Gary

[catchem]

To be honest I drifted off to sleep half way through... bored me to tears and went of with too many tangents... had the same "rushed" feel as the 1st series with guest speakers being rudely interrupted by Darra...

Mind you I did think Brian May did a wonderful impression of Sir Issac Newton... with the grey curly hair

I also am getting annoyed with Darra's rudeness one of the lady guest presenters was talking about another Mars vehicle that will search for life and Darra just butted in and started playing with the remote for the test one in the studio judging by Brian Cox's expression I dont think he liked it either. For me he just spoils it and should take more of a back seat. Tonights episode (Wednesday) even though it was a clear night apart from talking to the youngsters their was no interaction with the group from Liverpool and not even in the second part.

[RikM]

I thought tonight's shows were great. Everyone was so enthusiastic, it's infectious. I had a really stressy day at work. Just about got everything done in time. Watched some quality telly then whet out and had a look at Jupiter (only thing visible through the mist) with my youngest before packing him off to bed.

Big smile on my face right now

[ixalon]

@ProfBrianCox: Like the hypothesis in Stargazers Lounge that @BBCStargazing gets better in proportion to amount of beer we consumed the previous night.

Ha! Now who will fund the study to test my hypothesis? I wonder if "dosing" celebrity scientists ad science communicators with increasing amounts of beer would make it past an ethics committee?

[Ptarmigan]

Much has been said about the suitability of the title "Stargazing Live".

Last night (Tue) much was made of "oh no it's cloudy, again, well it is the UK, ho ho waddu expect"

and clips of Patrick quote "oh no, it's gone again" !

perhaps fair enough then that they spend time in the studio talking about anything space, astronomy and cosmology.

But tonight (Wed) what a wasted opportunity, perfect skies outside and what did they do, , , sat around in the studio talking about space, astronomy and cosmology with Dara trying and failing to put one over on the prof. !

Good programme, just get rid of the stupid unrelated title !!

[michaelmorris]

Ha! Now who will fund the study to test my hypothesis? I wonder if "dosing" celebrity scientists ad science communicators with increasing amounts of beer would make it past an ethics committee?

I think it is unethical NOT to ply people with beer!

[bingevader]

I haven't caught either programme yet!

However, took 2 of my girls (10 and 12) to the Stargazing Live night in Newport and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Very well pitched as an introduction to astronomy and plenty of activities to take part in.

The only thing we didn't do was look at the stars, too much cloud!

Cheers

[pete_l]

@ProfBrianCox: Like the hypothesis in Stargazers Lounge that @BBCStargazing gets better in proportion to amount of beer we consumed the previous night.

Sounds reasonable - I've done most of my best work after a couple of beers.

So do we all club together to send a barrel over before the start of next year's effort?

If so: which brew?

I wonder if "dosing" celebrity scientists ad science communicators with increasing amounts of beer would make it past an ethics committee?

It definitely would - providing you send TWICE the amount to the ethics committee.

I have to say, the half-hour discussion after the main show was the most abstract piece of television I could ever expect the ( otherwise "firmly grounded in reality") BBC to ever broadcast.

[Ptarmigan]

I think it is unethical NOT to ply people with beer!

If so: which brew?

Perhaps with some of these beers :

http://www.crossbayb...wery/Beers.html

Sorry if this is unethical to post a link like this, no connection with the brewery,

I was just amused to see their products,

sadly not available this far south

[Steve Ward]

Thought they'd have taken the opportunity to get their precious selves outside as the skies were clear . . .

Pretty disappointed so far and another cloudy night in prospect for tomorrow , am looking forward to the Herschel scope though.

Steve.

[Uranium235]

I see a number of SGL imagers have infiltrated the photos section

And if im not mistaken, there were a number of images already on the board for the first evening, and im 99.9% certain that the M45 in the top right corner is the one I did back in December (ccd/dslr combo) - complete with slightly dodgy framing, slight loss of blue on Alcyone, and lack of location text - which is probably why it didnt get mentioned... doh!

[Seafury]

I think the whole problem is that they gave the program the wrong title Star Gazing "LIVE" makes you think that they intend spending the whole program outside actualy looking through telescopes.binos etc maybe from all over the world to ensure some clear skies. Ir should have been called something like "The Science of The Universe" and just added to Brian Cox's series

[Kai]

I've jumped to the end without reading all the posts so apologies if anyone else has mentioned this! Isn't it weird that male presenters can be any size, shape and level of attractiveness but the female presenters, like Liz, have to be eye candy? There are a lot of clever, female professional astronomers out there who could be excellent presenters, but possibly not the most attractive. Are they ever chosen?! It doesn't seem fair.

Darwinian evolution comes into play here with the "Survival of the Fittest"

[fredster]

I personally think they need to rename the program now. Not quite sure where the link to Stargazing is? There simply is no Stargazing...at all! They just flash to a bloke called Mark, in a field with some bods, he asks if the gang is good and then they go back to talking astrophysics and cosmology. Very disappointing indeed from that perspective.

But that aside what they do talk about is interesting and easy to understand. I normally nod off at the mere mention of 'The Big Bang' but to the show's credit i listended to every word.

[Seafury]

last year I'm sure they were out in quite a few locations with various clubs talking to normal people about their scopes etc

[devilgas]

really enjoyed last nights (wednesday) shows.

i disagree that more time should be spent showing live views. as i said yesterday, realistically, what can you show through a live video feed? M42, M31 and various stars. most other stuff requires eyeball mk1 or a long exposure.

i still think that a 5 min section each night on scope types, buying your first scope, using an EQ mount & a quick explanation of how people get THOSE images is required. if nothing else, it'd reduce the number of scopes that get bought on the spur of the moment then within a week turned into dust collectors because they were

a) cheap carp

"not seeing what i expected"

c) too difficult to use

off piste a little bit, but is also very much a failing of the manufacturers. e.g. the coronado PST box shows some wonderful images of the sun. what they don't tell you is how much extra kit and processing went into getting those images, so your first view through the scope is a bit underwhelming

the problem with this is that newbies see what was on SGLive, see what's on the box in the shop and expect to see the same through their new 4" scope in the middle of their town / city. i speak from experience.

[devilgas]

great b ) was turned into

so....

a ) cheap carp

b ) "not seeing what i expected

c ) too difficult to use

[Seafury]

and why do they have to keep involving random so called "celebs" who have no interest or no involvement in the subject ? they are more interested in promoting their own image and worth as comediens or whatever they certainly don't add to the program and one can image the main presenters being quite annoyed at their inclusion I expect they are the idea of some spotty 18 year old" media studies "producer as a good idea, sorry rant from old, grey,dribbling individual over lol