Stargazing Live

mucephei · Post by **mucephei** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:29 pm

I've been involved in amateur astronomy for years and watched this with interest. A friend contributed a few photographs for it (including one Dara claimed he had taken).

Dara O'Briain (spelling?) has a degree in astrophysics. It's surprising how many comedians and musicians have either a strong interest in, or qualifications in, physics and astronomy.

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:36 pm

Dara O'Briain is, by some distance, the best stand up comedian I've ever seen. An incredibly intelligent and talented man, he is - in my view - Ireland's Stephen Fry. Superb.

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:09 am

For those of you in the USA who've not seen Wonders of the Solar System on the BBC, it's apparently being shown soon on Discovery Science. Watch it and understand what all the fuss is about.

Prfessor Brian Cox embodies the spirit of Carl Sagan. Miss it and you miss out.

portiss · Post by **portiss** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:07 pm

Watching it on Internet now, and even the first minute is amazingly beautiful already. The guy in the first minute, reminds me of Gillian Murphy somehow ;o

portiss · Post by **portiss** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:26 pm

Haha, he doesn't look like Gillian Murphy. The documentary is great though, I'm in 20 min now, and I love it already.

portiss · Post by **portiss** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:50 pm

I just cried while watching Wonders of the solar system. The part of the Northern Lights, I don't know why but it's so beautiful, I cried.

Fuck, this is emotional for some reason, but not the bad kind. I'm touched.

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:45 pm

Glad you're enjoying it Portiss. The good news is he's just finished recording series two. You can link up with him on Twitter to find out more, he's quite active on there.

ShammenDelly · Post by **ShammenDelly** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 9:07 pm

Watched the episode dead or alive from wonders of the solar system for the first time last night, i was blown away. Currently downloading all episodes as we speak.
Its a beautiful show and yes, brian cox is currently bringing the spirit of sagan back into our lives

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:25 pm

Oh man, by pure coincidence I just saw the trailer to series 2. It looks just staggering...

Numerator · Post by **Numerator** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:44 pm

Mexicola wrote:Oh man, by pure coincidence I just saw the trailer to series 2. It looks just staggering...

link please?

Twoist · Post by **Twoist** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:44 pm

Mexicola wrote:Oh man, by pure coincidence I just saw the trailer to series 2. It looks just staggering...

Yep, doesn't it just? I can't wait for it to begin!

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:53 pm

Numerator wrote:
Mexicola wrote:Oh man, by pure coincidence I just saw the trailer to series 2. It looks just staggering...
link please?

Can't I'm afraid. It was on TV - BBC2 earlier tonight. You might find it on iPlayer though?

The Friendly Stranger · Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:18 pm

Wonders of the Universe? Yes, it was! Can't wait!

ShammenDelly · Post by **ShammenDelly** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:00 am

Just finished watching Wonders of the Solar System, I Feel like crying

Cant wait to watch Season 2 when its out in March.

Twoist · Post by **Twoist** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:13 pm

ShammenDelly wrote:Just finished watching Wonders of the Solar System, I Feel like crying
Cant wait to watch Season 2 when its out in March.

I know this is going a fair bit off BoC topic now, but the Wonders of the Universe trailer is now on YouTube at last

Numerator · Post by **Numerator** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 8:57 pm

Twoist wrote:
ShammenDelly wrote:Just finished watching Wonders of the Solar System, I Feel like crying
Cant wait to watch Season 2 when its out in March.
I know this is going a fair bit off BoC topic now, but the Wonders of the Universe trailer is now on YouTube at last

ace! looks amazing

GRIM.657 · Post by **GRIM.657** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 11:05 pm

This show looks like its the tits, I'm gonna download right now

Also, in the youtube trailer for the second series, John Murphy (sunshine, 28 days later) does the music, he's one of my faves in TV/Movie music. BBC has good taste imo

edit- first post, and its entirely unrelated to BoC :\ ah well

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:04 pm

New series started tonight on BBC2 for the next 3 nights.

Inspired, I took my binoculars out into the garden and FINALLY managed to find the M31 Andromeda galaxy!

Didn't look anything like this of course - more a smudge of light, but all the same. Those photons that traveled down my binos, into my eyes, onto my retinas took around 2.5 MILLION years to reach me. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it.

So then I thought I'd take a peek at Betelgeuse, in Orion. When I did that, quite by accident it hit upon this incredible thing:

The Great Nebula in Orion. Again, it was nothing more than a smudge of light among a plethora of stars, but this one was somewhat closer. The light only took around 1600 years to reach me this time.

Immensely happy and more than a little humbled!

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:19 am

Good to see fellow astronomers on the board. Orion is just incredible, also you did well finding Andromeda, it's quite difficult at times! Space constantly blows my mind. Definitely a passion.

mechanismj · Post by **mechanismj** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:23 am

I've started Carl Sagan's Cosmos TV Program on Netflix just a couple days ago. I'll have to scope out Wonders of the Solar System next. I can never get enough of this universe!

The first time I saw the Orion Nebula was in an astronomy magazine back in school. When I looked at it, I got this INTENSE rush of familiarity; like it was my home in another time. I was transfixed and stared at the image the rest of the class (to understand how I got away with this, please see the American Education System thread

)

I'm waiting patiently for Betelgeuse to blow its top! That's gonna be the show of a lifetime!