Stargazing live 2014

[Bart]

I really enjoyed it too. Only criticism was when they were showing you where to find galaxies around Ursa Major, I thought the pictures they showed were too detailed. In other words, if I ran out to get a scope, I'd be disappointed with the smudges I'd find, rather than the beautiful detailed spiral structures shown on the programme.

Barry

[Gweedo]

Sign me up for the Carolyn Porco fan club.  I thought she was intelligent, articulate and fiesty and I'd love to hear more from her  I thought she really added to the programme.  Chris Hadfield is epic too.

[Beulah]

I thought both Stargazing Live and Back To Earth were excellent. I really enjoyed watching the Chris Hadfield and Walt Cunningham interviews and their banter after the main show. It was fascinating having the old and the modern astronaut juxtaposed, in terms of how far technology has progressed. And how humble these guys were!!

Caroline Porco is an amazing woman and I imagine it's fascinating working for her team. She was obviously frustrated at the loss of autonomy NASA has had in recent years and I would have loved to have heard more about it. Shame that discussion was doused by Dara....

I also too had that epiphany as a kid that I wanted to be an astronaut, I still do....but I'm a bit long in the tooth for that malarkey now...

[RikM]

I really enjoyed it too. Only criticism was when they were showing you where to find galaxies around Ursa Major, I thought the pictures they showed were too detailed. In other words, if I ran out to get a scope, I'd be disappointed with the smudges I'd find, rather than the beautiful detailed spiral structures shown on the programme.

Barry

I thought so too. Imagine a kid coming home from Jessops with a 60mm tube and expecting to see spiral arms in M51

[PhotoGav]

Superb show last night. The space travel discussion is fascinating. So, the search for the next generation of rocket fuel, huh... Anti-matter. My brain was aching quite a lot of the hour and a half! My 10 year old son was glued to it too, all the way through.

Bring on the blues, reds and purples tonight!

[ccfcbob]

Really enjoyed last couple of nights. We defiantly need more shows like this, what else do we get 20 minutes a month if we are lucky with BBC's sky at night.

As someone has previously said the only criticism if I'm going to get picky is there is not enough 'Stargazing'

[DaveS]

Well, yes it was a good show as far as it went, but as others have said there wasn't enough stargazing. Hope tonight's is better.

And yes, I too thought the descriptions of the galaxies in UMa were rather unrealistic as to what you'd see even through a good amateur 'scope, let alone a bargin-basement special.

[astro mick]

I,m sorry,and I don't often say things like this,but Dara O,Briain,is not the right man for this programme.My thoughts only.

[Fypunky]

As a newcomer into the world of astronomy I am really enjoying the shows again, my daughter (9) is the real reason I am here and to be honest having watched the other series on U tube with her during November she is struggling with this one!

Tuesday's show she found more interesting than last nights I think,  last nights may of been a little more technical and it drifted as mentioned to space travel etc which kind of takes the focus away from star gazing. In previous years they have talked about the stuff you will see when stargazing and I agree with Bart, M31 and M81 is a smudge where we are with LP and is nothing at all as shown.

I think it would be a great idea for a show for all the seasons but not sure how they would be able to keep a captive audience, its a fine mix between keeping it interesting for the general public and keeping it interesting for the more experienced star gazer and I think that may just be the problem.

I would love to see more of live the stargazing live where ever that is , be it UK, Spain, Australia! In fact for me personally it would be nice to see more stuff from the southern sky's as I would probably never get down there to see it myself.

Bit of a mixed bag.

[JB80]

Well, again I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It's going to be sad to see it go though for another year.

[RikM]

I think Dara and Brian make a good team presenting a program with this format.

[wxsatuser]

I was hoping to see some big dobs.

[mylatestwhim]

Skies are clear as a bell here at the moment (4 miles from jodrell bank) I will have to sky plus it because I cant pass up on the telescope opportunity  

[starman1969]

As a newcomer into the world of astronomy I am really enjoying the shows again, my daughter (9) is the real reason I am here and to be honest having watched the other series on U tube with her during November she is struggling with this one!

Tuesday's show she found more interesting than last nights I think,  last nights may of been a little more technical and it drifted as mentioned to space travel etc which kind of takes the focus away from star gazing. In previous years they have talked about the stuff you will see when stargazing and I agree with Bart, M31 and M81 is a smudge where we are with LP and is nothing at all as shown.

I think it would be a great idea for a show for all the seasons but not sure how they would be able to keep a captive audience, its a fine mix between keeping it interesting for the general public and keeping it interesting for the more experienced star gazer and I think that may just be the problem.

I would love to see more of live the stargazing live where ever that is , be it UK, Spain, Australia! In fact for me personally it would be nice to see more stuff from the southern sky's as I would probably never get down there to see it myself.

Bit of a mixed bag.

I would have said the same thing about the southern skies. I never thought I'd see them, but I did just recently. They were pretty amazing as expected.  I have some pics here if you get chance to look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59251448@N04/11499046976/

As a newcomer into the world of astronomy I am really enjoying the shows again, my daughter (9) is the real reason I am here and to be honest having watched the other series on U tube with her during November she is struggling with this one!

Tuesday's show she found more interesting than last nights I think,  last nights may of been a little more technical and it drifted as mentioned to space travel etc which kind of takes the focus away from star gazing. In previous years they have talked about the stuff you will see when stargazing and I agree with Bart, M31 and M81 is a smudge where we are with LP and is nothing at all as shown.

I think it would be a great idea for a show for all the seasons but not sure how they would be able to keep a captive audience, its a fine mix between keeping it interesting for the general public and keeping it interesting for the more experienced star gazer and I think that may just be the problem.

I would love to see more of live the stargazing live where ever that is , be it UK, Spain, Australia! In fact for me personally it would be nice to see more stuff from the southern sky's as I would probably never get down there to see it myself.

Bit of a mixed bag.

I would have said the same thing about the southern skies. I never thought I'd see them, but I did just recently. They were pretty amazing as expected.  I have some pics here if you get chance to look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59251448@N04/11499046976/

[Bart]

I think Dara and Brian make a good team presenting a program with this format.

Yep, think I'd agree with you on this, it's a tricky line to walk between technical for the old hands and attracting newcomers. I don't think its for experienced astrophysicists I think they have it ALMOST right. Bit more for the newcomers, with some help and realistic expectations. And maybe some phone numbers for banks who give astro loans for kit....

Barry

[hugobugo]

As I said before the format of these shows has been to capture the imagination and suck you in to Astronomy.

Night vision of a man in a field with telescopes don't make good tele nor does it show the wonders of what is up there to see so as to draw you in.

I think they have got the balance right in content and last night was inspirational with two hero's who know exactly how to talk about their field in non technical jargon but not talking down or dumbed down. 
Poco is an unbelievable lady at the top of her field again inspirational, just wish she had not cut in on Hadfield when he courteously deferred to Cunningham on the question of inspirational thing they had seen. Shame they did not give the Cmdr the chance to tell us as lets face it is guys like him that will have inspired so many young people into science.

[stevend]

As I said before the format of these shows has been to capture the imagination and suck you in to Astronomy.

Night vision of a man in a field with telescopes don't make good tele nor does it show the wonders of what is up there to see so as to draw you in.

I agree with your first point, but not the second - it does not have to be executed like that. eg on tuesday night, they could have gone to the outdoor site, shown people looking through scopes pointed at eg Jupiter and then show a picture (admittedly pre-done due to time constraints) of a view of Jupiter and the Galilean moons through a 6" or 8" telescope. Similarly with the first quarter moon and a DSO eg the Pleiades, mixing the studio with a 'live' segment. 

That, IMO, would have made the show just about as good as it could have been.

[JonnyK]

Well so far I've really enjoyed the series, I think all the presenters are great and work well together, perhaps the sections with Mark Thompson could be extended as he seems to be the one doing the practical astronomy but so far it's ticking the boxes for me. I have to say the highlight so far has been the interview with Walt Cunningham, all astronauts are inspirational but the early Mercury/Gemini and Apollo astronauts were something else....Don't make them like that anymore.

[hugobugo]

I agree with your first point, but not the second - it does not have to be executed like that. eg on tuesday night, they could have gone to the outdoor site, shown people looking through scopes pointed at eg Jupiter and then show a picture (admittedly pre-done due to time constraints) of a view of Jupiter and the Galilean moons through a 6" or 8" telescope. Similarly with the first quarter moon and a DSO eg the Pleiades, mixing the studio with a 'live' segment. 

That, IMO, would have made the show just about as good as it could have been.

I like that on the first night the showed realistic views you get from a telescope and not an astro photo. I don't think that concentrating much on what you ask would draw  many people in, it is not "observing live" or "astronomy live" it is a lot broader than that. I don't want to see what you ask for as I can go and look through my scopes anytime, I don't think the in scope images are that inspirational in themselves (you need to understand the scale of things e.g. 34million miles to mars, 23 million light years to whirlpool galaxy) and certainly not for TV if the programmes remit is to inspire then I think the balance is perfect and its been the best series to date. 

[astrodam]

This program certainly worked on me last year.  I'd always wanted to know what I was looking at in the night sky but never really knew/got round to getting started.  After the series had finished last year, I got hold of the beginners book by Sir Patrick Moore and used the advice in there to look into what kind of telescope I should get.  A couple of months later I was in my garden with a shiny new SW 150P learning my way around the night sky and hunting out faint fuzzies, planets, comets and etc.  I've now got the scope motorized and started Astrophotography.  I find it absolutely amazing what you can see up there from your own back yard, if you know where to look!  I have found it frustrating at times put being patient and putting in the stargazing hours give a real satisfaction when I do find what I'm targeting and better still if I can get a nice image out of the session.

My favourite so far was capturing Comet Lovejoy.  I never thought I'd be this into it 10months ago, and I'm already browsing for a big guided mount setup!

Thanks BBC stargazing live team

[Scott]

Well done, Starman.

Another good one tonight I thought. Again it was better for the absence of comedians and impersonators. They'd dropped K9 too.

I enjoy the technical banter between those taking part in the programme. For once for something on TV I'm having to concentrate to follow what they're saying. Some fascinating information to glean. I would add though ... It's very good radio. Whether it's good television is another matter.

You do realise what Dara does for a living don't you?...Poor old JC...not even on this show and don't know that he ever has been and he's still getting slated

[callump]

Well, I have quite enjoyed the two programmes so far - so probably means they are missing their target demographic :-)

I am a bit worried the prospects for an aurora all over the UK tonight are a bit over-hyped (though you never know - it might be our lucky day...)

Callum

[Davey-T]

Looks like Christmas has come twice for Pete Lawrence, flying above the clouds with Liz Bonnin looking at the romantic Aurora and getting paid for it         

Dave

[northwalesparry]

Dara and brian rock.

[Fypunky]

I would have said the same thing about the southern skies. I never thought I'd see them, but I did just recently. They were pretty amazing as expected.  I have some pics here if you get chance to look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59251448@N04/11499046976/

I would have said the same thing about the southern skies. I never thought I'd see them, but I did just recently. They were pretty amazing as expected.  I have some pics here if you get chance to look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59251448@N04/11499046976/

Cheers for that, will have browse through when I have two mins and a brew.

My own personal thoughts on this years format is what they have shown although I have enjoyed it will in no way really inspire me to go and buy a scope, get into the garden and start this amazing hobby but then is that what the show is about?

I have watched many programs on discovery, nat geo etc of a similar note to what I have seen this year which again has not inspired me to go out and view the heavens, I am sure anybody with the slightest interest in nature would love the nature watch series and go out and see what's out there after watching the programs.

I am not in any way being critical, its a great program that I enjoy and when buying little legs scope I was told there is a real explosion of scopes being bought, but I am sure it would be better as mentioned if the focus was a little more celestial to encourage more people to go out there and enjoy themselves.