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Stargazing live 2014

northwalesparry

By northwalesparry
in The Astro Lounge

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Tddun

Tddun

Posted
Posted

I thought this was better than last year's. I was trying to work out why and then I suddenly realised there were no "celebrities". Who on earth managed to persuade the BEEB that we don't need court jesters to dumb down the programme? Well done who ever that was. Plus there were some seriously interesting astronomical discussion going on.

Ditto. Wondered myself why the conversation was better, most likely because you had 5 people sitting down all with a genuine interest in the subject!

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mallorcasaint

mallorcasaint

Posted
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Unlike many I really like Dara and Prof Cox. While they may "dumb down" some parts, they are doing their job, appealing to the masses and spreading the popularity of science. As a STEM Ambassador I fully understand where they are coming from. A great show tonight ( better than last years ) and look forward to the rest of the series!

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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Is it just me, or did Mark Thompson's video of Saturn 'shot last week', look a little suspect??

Surely the rings are more tilted right now than they looked on that video.

Glad someone else spotted that ...  :p

The rings have opened up now so that the edge of the planet pretty well touches the top of the rings , that footage was from last years apparition ....  :rolleyes:

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Beulah

Beulah

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I really enjoyed the show - it was much better than last year's series.

The best thing to come out of it for me already is that it has re-iginted my passion for astronomy. I've been a little discouraged with the local LP so it's been great to get all fired up from the enthusiasm evident in the program. Thought the live Aurora was fantastic. :)

Really looking forward to today's program.

BTW it was great to see SGL member Saturn5's (Stewart) image on the show.

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sbooder

sbooder

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My Favourite bit is when Brian Cox orders Dr Carolyn Porco to tell the audience that the hexagonal clouds at the pole are nothing to do with the power of crystals.  Good on you Prof, dispel juju when possible.

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pduk

pduk

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I thought it was greatly improved on last year... enjoyed it all. I do prefer the more relaxed bonus half hour, particularly guessing what weird excuse they will dream up for the cocktails each time :)

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stevend

stevend

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Posted

A surprisingly good show. I think Dr Carolyn Porco's presence made the difference and it was so good to see everyone around the table wanting to get involved in the discussions. I could not believe it when they did the solar telescope demo, a big surprise so really looking forward to the astronauts tonight - someone has really got their act together on deciding the format.

The only disappointed (apart from the clear skies in Norfolk and Manchester... but not here) was I would have liked to see have seen some 'active hands on astronomy' in the show, eg the first quarter moon, when you see Orion up in the sky why not show M42, and similarly Jupiter with the Galilean moons as viewed through someone's telescope, as they did with the solar scope ?

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catman161

catman161

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Yes I agree it is let down by the presenters. I cannot stand Dara he is the most annoying person they could have picked to present the show-continuously interrupting people when they speak. However they all do it though, it ends up just being an incoherent mess.

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happy-kat

happy-kat

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Well i will buck the tend to much on unaccessible stuff like Saturn and picking the lights apart. There was almost nothing on what you and i can see from earth. This is star gazing live not sky at night or other deep science programme. I thought i would see stuff to inspire to go out side and look up, there was a tiny very none inspirational bit on the 7 star frame did not even mention it included a double star, planet or nebula let alone say with bins you could see these other things like globular clusters. So sorry i thought it was poor except for the solar viewing bit as that told me how i could do that safely and there was link to other solar items in the programme.

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sbooder

sbooder

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I was a bit perplexed why they bothered with the astro group out in the field, all they did is go to them have a quick chat and then back to the studio, what was the reason to have a presenter out in the field when you do not give them time to talk to the AAs out there and maybe give us live views through the scopes and talk about setups and what they were doing.  The only conclusion I can come to is, they expected bad weather and arranged the program on that basis and did not know how to play it with good skies.

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mylatestwhim

mylatestwhim

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I disagree, I told my dad to watch. He is not a thicko, chartered engineer for 40 years and it blew his mind. I thought it was a great show. I think if it was targeted towards current astronomers it may have come across as a bit boring/ confusing. stuffy.

Well done I say.

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Macavity

Macavity

Posted
Posted

Unlike many I really like Dara and Prof Cox. While they may "dumb down" some parts, they are doing their job, appealing to the masses and spreading the popularity of science. As a STEM Ambassador I fully understand where they are coming from. A great show tonight ( better than last years ) and look forward to the rest of the series!

A largely enjoyable program. For me, exactly because they seem to have reined in the (now BBC obligatory?) "comedic banter" whenever science is presented? I don't think MANY people actively dislike Dara or Prof-Cox... Although their FANS (boys?) might imagine we do! lol :p

But Generally:

Clearly the "Top Gear" format appeals to the "masses" - Though I wince at the term! Kudos to Brian Cox for capturing the... "zeitgeist". But science doesn't have to be particularly "dumbed down" to appeal to *most* people? For the uninitiated the rapid-fire attempts by certain presenters to "top" others irritated slightly. A few of the presenters looked a BIT uncomfortable with this? :o

SCIENCE speaks for itself. There is the "cool - uncool" (nerd) thing re. these programs. If I use my (past!) skills to promote Astronomy, it's via more conventional (boring? lol) "talks". But maybe I am "working" a *different* audience? The ones who felt (still feel!) "left out" or "made to feel stupid" (not infrequently!) by "cool scientists"...  There seem to be a LOT of them about! An offbeat thought?  :)

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SnakeyJ

SnakeyJ

Posted
Posted

I thought Dr Carolyn Porco was fantastic, especially in the second part.  Good show overall too.

Have to agree with this - an excellent choice of guest, vast experience, but also a great communicator with a genuine warmth - hope they will have her back again soon!

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hugobugo

hugobugo

Posted
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I thought this was a great balanced show.

Bear in mind I don't think it is aimed at us, if you read the astro magazines your pretty up to date and most of the stuff I had read about. 

If this isn't for people established in our hobby it is there to catch the imagination of others to get them interested in the field and to actually have a look up there firstly with your eyes and then with telescope (granted they did not say look with bin's). If you get down to it how many people who don't know what they are looking at will be impressed with a grey fuzzy blob or  a disc which is slightly orangey or is plain with a couple of stripes. In themselves unless you understand what you are looking at they are pretty unimpressive. So the programme set out to capture peoples imagination and for most the first step will be a look with their eyes, pair of bins and best to go to an AAS where they can see different scopes (get to know budgets and what you will see with it). I have always had a problem with S@N not showing realistic images from scopes instead showing astrophoto's. I was glad to see realistic images for what can be achieved in your own eye with a modest scope. 

A lot of my friends don't get it and wonder what I get from it. After last nights programme I would be surprised if they don't after watching last night understand its the majesty of the whole field which interests me and i can see past the fuzzy grey blob to the wonder of it all. Don't get me wrong we need the great images to draw on our imagination the M31 they put up was great as was the stats they got across.

The AAS stuff could have been better actually stand by a scope and say to person what are you looking at then show a realistic image (even if it is recorded). But the AAS stuff will hopefully see people get in touch with their local society to explore the opportunities of our great pastime.

Great guests, great subjects, lucked out weather GREAT, great programme to wet somones appetite and get them interested. 

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dph1nm

dph1nm

Posted
Posted

Sorry - I thought it was mostly rather dull. I can't make out what they are trying to achieve (I couldn't last year either) - a documentary on astronomy/space science or live stargazing. The latter usually seems an after-thought, but the documentary style stuff doesn't really need a live programme.

And the half hour "discussion" afterwards was just a  complete shambles.

NigelM

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