Sky at Night - BBC 4

[Scott]

20 hours ago, SilverAstro said:

So we all want more actual night sky and observatonals in  "Sky at Night"  ,,, .  .  . Could it be that the lack of such is because of cloudy thinking by the producers/directors ?

I'm not sure that half a dozen people in this thread can be construed as "all of us". My guess is that the people who like s@n don't read these threads because they always end up host/format bashing

[Paul M]

13 minutes ago, Scott said:

I'm not sure that half a dozen people in this thread can be construed as "all of us". My guess is that the people who like s@n don't read these threads because they always end up host/format bashing

I'm not sure a technical forum in general is a good barometer for what the general viewing public want to see on TV.

I would be very surprised if the level of the episode in question wasn't aimed at a non technical audience. Many people with a passing interest in space or science in general will very likely enjoy it greatly. Not many will have 30,40 or 50 years of astronomy experience, a silly great telescope and thousands of hours on SGL to their name!

I honestly wish the programme well. It would be a great shame to lose a national treasure. It just isn't for me...

[SilverAstro]

1 hour ago, Scott said:

I'm not sure that half a dozen people in this thread can be construed as "all of us". My guess is that the people who like s@n don't read these threads because they always end up host/format bashing

 

Quote

" So we all want , , , 

cloudy thinking , , ,  "

 

It was an attempt at a joke ! The emboldened "Cloudy" was supposed to be the joke and "we all" , meaning chums in this thread not all the viewers of S@N  ( even I would not claim to speak on behalf of that august body !! ) , was the hook I was hanging the joke upon. Sorry that it did not work for you and apologies for offence. ( I did put a smiley from the collection in there at the end,   dont know why it has turned into text though  ) 

Edit : fixed displaying of emoticons , that was very strange, all of a sudden my browser prefs decided to tick its own box to  " not display pictures ", well odd as I had not long before been looking at the brill. pics in the No EQ topic.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Well,changing the topic a little,I have to say that I enjoyed last night's 'Horizon' programme on Oceans of the Solar System - And it featured two American researchers that reminded me of those Scientists on 'The Fast Show'- "Hey Dude,this completely blows my mind!"

They were investigating some of my favourite Microscopic creatures-Tardigrades-so what was there not to like?

Can't wait until the submarine probe explores the depths of Titan's Methane Ocean,I think that I'll echo the above researcher!

[brantuk]

Yes I enjoyed Oceans of the Solar System too. There was also a very good program on comets last night in the early hours. Dunno why it was so late but it was very interesting. Wish I had a favourite microscopic bug lol.

[Gina]

Me too

[bejay1957]

My recorder failed!  Will have to catch Oceans of the Solar System on iPlayer

[DaveS]

Will have to catch it on iPlayer too as I was on La Palma at the time.

For those of a solar system bent, there's a good sounding Horizon on Wednesday.

Myself, I find anything closer than about 100 ly a bit too close to home.

[Alien 13]

On 4/7/2016 at 10:01, MAN or ASTROMAN said:

Well,changing the topic a little,I have to say that I enjoyed last night's 'Horizon' programme on Oceans of the Solar System - And it featured two American researchers that reminded me of those Scientists on 'The Fast Show'- "Hey Dude,this completely blows my mind!"

They were investigating some of my favourite Microscopic creatures-Tardigrades-so what was there not to like?

Can't wait until the submarine probe explores the depths of Titan's Methane Ocean,I think that I'll echo the above researcher!

I found it fascinating. not found a  Tardigrade yet but keep looking its one of the reasons I bought my microscope oh and of course meteorite dust.

Alan

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

1 hour ago, Alien 13 said:

I found it fascinating. not found a  Tardigrade yet but keep looking its one of the reasons I bought my microscope oh and of course meteorite dust.

Alan

Just ten minutes ago,I,ve collected some rather dry Moss,and placed it in a Petri Dish to re-hydrate overnight (using bottled 'spring' water).

Hopefully,any Tardigrades present will 'spring' back to life- I didn't realise the pun until I just typed it there(!)

[SilverAstro]

+1 for the Tardigrade Appreciation Society, my first was from a lump of moss off the west face roof slope soaked in an ex-marg tub with some rainwater.

Fascinating !

 

 

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

10 hours ago, SilverAstro said:

+1 for the Tardigrade Appreciation Society, my first was from a lump of moss off the west face roof slope soaked in an ex-marg tub with some rainwater.

Fascinating !

 

 

Way to go!

When I was watching that 'Horizon' programme the other night,I remarked to the wife "Why is that guy climbing up a slippery slope,getting soaked by waterfalls,to collect moss samples -he should have gone  to the wall near our front door." (West facing).

She just nods at comments like that now.........

[Highburymark]

The tendency to focus on cosmology is also reflected in the news sections of the main astronomy magazines. I'd like to see stories about new gear and observing in there too - to mix things up a bit - and to reflect the interests of amateur astronomers more effectively. 

[Physopto]

I like the Sky at Night, I always have.

But the format  has now changed to almost forget the real amateur astronomer. I know they keep saying get out and look at the sky, but very little in the programs reflect this. There should be a section reserved during each episode for us to reflect on down to earth aspects. We need to have a real amateur presenter, not all PhDs and pie in the sky stories. There is enough of that from Horizon and other programs. It is not to say I do not enjoy the stories about all the probes and their new and interesting finds. But we also could do with basic things to encourage new amateurs, the children! They need to be shown what they can accomplish with basic kit and I do not mean just being told to use binoculars. Nothing wrong with binoculars but there are plenty of other methods that do not cost the earth. A basic DOB being one very cheap and easily obtained piece of astro equipment.

The children are the future and I think The Sky at Night is forgetting this. Most of us had a real amateur astronomer as host of The Shy at Night to grow up with, unfortunately he has now passed and the newer presenters do not engender the same enthusiasm for REAL AMATEUR astronomy.

Derek