BBC4 at 21:00 - "Secrets of Size: Atoms to Supergalaxies"

[Zermelo]

I assume this is a repeat, but I don't think I've seen it.
Jim's usually worth a look.

[Gfamily]

A new programme - although BBC4 has had its funding reduced that means it generally only shows archive material, this had special funding from a Norwegian charity called Kavli that meant that it cost the BBC practically nothing.  

 

 

[Ags]

I thought the BBC4 stuff was why you had a BBC. The stuff on 1 and 2, anyone can do.

[Pixies]

Jim usually has a smaller budget than Mr Cox. He's normally filmed wandering around dreaming spires rather than exotic landscapes. 

I like his biog:

Professor Jim Al-Khalili CBE FRS is a quantum physicist who holds a University of Surrey Distinguished Chair as well as a personal chair in physics since 2005 and a University chair in the Public Engagement in Science. He is a living three-piece suite.

[Zermelo]

Well that was a good whistlestop tour of the microscopic world.

I didn't know about the problem with spherical aberration of electron microscopes; it makes our woes look simple by comparison.

And I want some of that black carbon nanotube stuff for the inside of my reflector.

 

[Knighty2112]

Sadly missed it, so I’ll catch it up on BBC iplayer tomorrow. 👍🏻

[DaveS]

10 hours ago, Ags said:

I thought the BBC4 stuff was why you had a BBC. The stuff on 1 and 2, anyone can do.

Don't get me started on BBC funding

[niallk]

On 16/05/2022 at 20:52, Zermelo said:

I assume this is a repeat, but I don't think I've seen it.
Jim's usually worth a look.

Yes - his documentaries are really excellent!  He's a great presenter. 

Will see if I can access this being in ROI - sounds like the sort of stuff I enjoy 😉 

[glafnazur]

Thanks for this,  I missed it but I'll see if I can watch it on iplayer. He's done some great docunentaries. 

[tomato]

Do I recall a line from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” TV series about a spacecraft being “blacker than the blackest thing ever”? Well, now we know what it was painted with.

[Simon Pepper]

Thanks I missed this as well but will watch it on iPlayer. Great presenter 

[DaveS]

Part two looks to be more our field, Solar System out to huge galaxy clusters.

[DaveS]

Part two on tonight, 9 pm BBC 4.

[DaveS]

Mind. Blown.

[wulfrun]

Very enjoyable, both parts. I like him as a presenter, he speaks clearly and concisely.

[tomato]

Yeah, really enjoyed it, lots of professional images on display as well as some nice computer simulations and analogies.  Much better than BC on top of a mountain.

[josefk]

I was vaguely simmering the idea of a fine but small refractor before this programme. Unfortunately now i'm dreaming of an unmanageably massive dob! 😂

[DaveS]

Something like This perhaps, but as they say, "if you have to ask how much..."

[josefk]

...would probably get rumbled taking delivery of that and trying to stash it in the spare room...

[Zermelo]

1 hour ago, josefk said:

...would probably get rumbled taking delivery of that and trying to stash it in the spare room...

Get lessons from @Stu - he'd happily have it unnoticed in the corner of his lounge

 

 

[wornish]

Watched them both and was very impressed.

The presenter is excellent.

 

The last does leave an unanswered question though.  What is "The Great Attracter'  and what are its coordinates?

Edited May 25, 2022 by wornish

[EarthLife]

The more we think we know about it, the less we know we know 

Both episodes are a very nice change to all the other nonsense shown on todays TV.

The tiny bits (1st episode) are just as big as the big bits (2nd episode), yet most likely hold the answers.

The last episode was quite fascinating towards the end what with the paths the galaxies are taking on there journeys and what not. What is the universe really I wonder, and how ?

Given our notion of cause and effect, how can the universe actually be, how can something ever pop into 'apparent' existence in the first place, whether it be the universe as we see it or whatever came before it, and before that, etc ... ?    it's for sure going to be beyond our tiny and ever so flawed reasoning - for sure.

A most unfathomable mystery

Edited May 25, 2022 by EarthLife

[Ags]

14 hours ago, wornish said:

The last does leave an unanswered question though.  What is "The Great Attracter'  and what are its coordinates?

@GreatAttractor

[GreatAttractor]

Looking from Earth, I'm in the direction of The Southern Triangle constellation. (Whoever's read Stephen Baxter's Ring — recommended! — knows the attraction effect is actually due to the Xeelee building a naked Kerr singularity to open a gateway to another universe.)

[Ouroboros]

On 16/05/2022 at 22:11, Ags said:

I thought the BBC4 stuff was why you had a BBC. The stuff on 1 and 2, anyone can do.

Blink and BBC will have gone in ten years. The Tories hate it. I’ll shut up. Too political.