Stargazing Live - The aftermath

[russ]

The last epsisode seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time covering the space station and our British astronaught to be along with Dara O'brien's feature on orientation in space. I would have liked to see far more about actual star gazing.

That was the general theme of the shows really, the observing bits were like a last minute after thought. For me that worked better because i actually learnt some things and found that last programme very interesting and entertaining. I really couldn't see anyone being impressed with those Live slots outside, just didn't seem to work. I think they would be better off recording some footage from a large Star Party for a bit impact. Or a Live spot from the Texas Star Party.

[Rob]

I thought the shows were great.. ok the sky could have played ball a bit more, but hey its the UK... cloud with the odd clear spell.

Bring on more I say. I feel sad that I'm now sitting here watching the same old **** i.e Eastenders & DIY SOS... please spare me!!.

Rob

[Rob]

That was the general theme of the shows really, the observing bits were like a last minute after thought. For me that worked better because i actually learnt some things and found that last programme very interesting and entertaining. I really couldn't see anyone being impressed with those Live slots outside, just didn't seem to work. I think they would be better off recording some footage from a large Star Party for a bit impact. Or a Live spot from the Texas Star Party.

To be fair if the skies had been clear I'm sure we would have seen far more 'Out in the field' stuff.. the clouds gathered and we had to see the filler stuff.. roll on Summer, lets hope it comes back with more late night live in the field looking at M57, M27, M3, M13 etc.....

Come on BBC you can do it... Sky at Night is 50!.. Stargazing live is new, fresh and could be great!... run it the same as Autumn spring and summer watch for us astro geeks!

Rob

[russ]

Most of you are too young to remember the Halleys Comet mania - some real junk was sold then, by even the big names - the rumours are that Celestron and Meade relaxed their quality control to get the production numbers up.

I remember the hype very well indeed and also remember the huge disappointment as Halley turned into the greatest astro anti-climax of all time. Fortunately i didn't get caught up in the hype but many did get caught up in the usual media spin.

I did pick up a scope 9 years later that had been produced just for that event......the Celestron Comet Catcher (140mm f4 schmit-newt). Not sure if it was supposed to be one of Celestron's duffers but i loved it, should never have sold it. FOV was huge, i remember taking it on holiday to Cornwall and being amazed at the views of the milkyway.

[russ]

To be fair if the skies had been clear I'm sure we would have seen far more 'Out in the field' stuff.. the clouds gathered and we had to see the filler stuff.. roll on Summer, lets hope it comes back with more late night live in the field looking at M57, M27, M3, M13 etc.....

It certainly would have fared better with a clear sky. But the shows were great and i don't think they had too many intentions of doing that much outside anyway. The Mauna Kea and Spacestation slots had been planned well in advance and didn't leave that much time. And they very good anyway.

[kentronix]

lets not forget folks, a large amount of the hobby is spent waiting for clouds to move, at least it showed a bit of realism so people getting into the hobby dont expect to have a colorful m42 view within 10 minutes like the boxes suggest

My advice to Hewhoisalan is read up, ask around, buy the best you can afford and allow yourself plenty of time to get used to the scope. I definitely suggest the first session should be about the mechanics of the scope, what all the bits do, letting your eyes adjust, stopping your feet from freezing etc.. and there is no better playground than the moon. That always looks great. Also search google images for pics taken using the scope your considering, that always gives a good indication as to what to expect.

I also recommend skywatcher as a first scope, good quality for the cost I would say.

Also, do consider the size of the thing. I made the mistake of starting off with a huge scope (for a newb anyway), which worked great but it was such hassle getting it out and putting it away that I rarely used it, it came very close to killing off my interest. Until I picked up a little meade.

[mickyjd]

I like most enjoyed the fact this was on TV and will probably spark some interest from would be stargazers as some of the content was very useful for beginners however I would have liked to have seen more on the types of telescopes and what you can expect to see through them. And why did they only have Mark when they could have had others all over Britain where there would have been a better chance of clear skies if one was covered in cloud.

[LukeSkywatcher]

True story;

Today I went to a local bookshop (not a big name bookshop) to buy a 2011 Stargazers Almanac.

They were out of stock. No problem. i ORDERED ONE IN.

The person serving me told me that in the last 2-3 days that books about astronomy have been selling like hot cakes.

Usually in 2-3 days the shop would sell almost zero books related to astronomy.

I can ONLY think that the Stargazing Live on BBC has something to do with this.

[GJBC]

Be interesting to see how much interest those programs have drummed up.

hi Guys and Gals Firstly id like to say for me personally the show could have been a bit more intense shall we say with more astronomy. but listening to many of the public who attended the Cardiff Astronomical Society free stargazing live event tonight they enjoyed it, as it was not to involved for them and enabled them to understand what was being talked about and the enjoyment factor was there as well. Did we have much opinion tonight well yes we did around 500 opinions who voted with their feet and came along to our event at dyffryn gardens and i can honestly say i am horse and knackered and elated at the same time. it was awesome we had queues for all of our telescope and at times we had a queue to view in the observatory of over 40 people. so if you have an event coming up and it clear be ready it might be busy. so the program did one thing and the one thing it was intended to do generate interest and it done that through all age groups from apx 5 up to 95 (oldest person there tonight)

Well done The Beeb for getting it out there and giving us the opportunity to engage with the public.

[ajg]

From the threads I've seen on this, I think some are picking it apart a little too much. You're average SGLer is not the target audience for this show. Personally, I found it entertaining, but lightweight.

If it was more in depth, the likes of which SGLers would really go for, it would sail way over the heads of the vast majority of people, and they'd lose interest quickly.

If this show makes a few more people get off their bottoms and look to expand their horizons a little, then that can only ever be a good thing.

More please Auntie Beeb!

[ixalon]

And expect even more new members, Brian Cox (@profbriancox) just retweeted the following (from NickH) to his 160,920 followers:

RT @NickAstronomer: #bbcstargazing want to join one of the major UK forums on astronomy? - UKAI and stargazerslounge are two biggest...

[lukebl]

And expect even more new members, Brian Cox (@profbriancox) just retweeted the following (from NickH) to his 160,920 followers:

This is definitely all to the good, but we can now expect a few months of 'Is that it?', and 'I've bought the wrong telescope', and 'Why doesn't the Orion nebula look like the photos', and 'Why can't I instantly take brilliant astroimages' plus a few UFO and Astrology nutters!

Let's hope at least a fair proportion of people stick with it.

[tim r]

I don't think it was aimed at people who already enjoy astronomy entirely thats what the sky at nights for, but I know lot's of my non-astro mined friend really enjoyed it so more people watch to more popular the hobby may become..

[fatwoul]

Am I the only one here with a nagging feeling there are going to be a lot of hasty and unsuitable telescope purchases over the next few weeks, and a lot of disappointed people? I suspect Ebay will be busy with discarded purchases in a few months, once the enthusiasm wanes.

Let's hope people have the sense to come to this forum first for advice, before they part with their cash (and extra VAT).

And if they choose to ignore the advice they are given, let's hope some of us grab a few bargains on eBay!