New Foxtel Series: "How The Universe Works."

[Suzy]

If you have Foxtel, a new series on the Discovery channel has just started to air on Monday nights, titled "How The Universe Works". I didn't know this was going to be on last night, otherwise I would have notified you'll. But don't despair, you can catch the repeat of last night's episode on Saturday at 10.30am.
This hourly series airs on Monday nights at 7.30pm.
I watch a multitude of space documentaries, and I have to say, that in mine and hubby's opinions, this has been by far the most informative documentary we have seen yet.

Last night's episode was entitled "Stars". At the beginning, was a terrific presentation on the scale of stars which left me gasping and I learned more from this one episode than I ever have from other shows on the same topic. Even Eta Carinae gets a little more than just a passing mention. I can't wait for next week's episode - "Black Holes".

This new show is presented in such a way that it is easy to understand but at the same time targets a more intelligent audience. Unlike "The Universe" series (which I did indeed enjoy), I however found it to be a little simplistic and over dramatic (esp. in later episodes), in my opinion.

Being a "Discovery" series, I am certain that soon enough this series will be available on DVD.

Kind regards,
Suzy.

[CraigS]

I'll confess .... I'm a Universe documentary junkie !

I look forward to seeing it. I might have to brawl to get hold of my TV on Saturday morning, though.

I wish I'd known it was on last night ... instead of wrangling about philosophy in the Science Forum !

Thanks for the 'heads-up' Suzy !

Cheers

[renormalised]

I'm a huge science doco fan as well. Have quite a few of the astronomy ones, as well as others such as "Walking with Dinosaurs/Beasts/Cavemen". I also like your history, UFO's, paranormal series etc. :):)

[Suzy]

Carl, do you have Foxtel? You would love the History & Discovery Channels. They play a lot of the stuff that you're interested in.

[renormalised]

I have Austar, so I'm fine with these:):)

[CraigS]

I'm looking to try and Get The History Channel's "The Universe" Season 2 &/or Season 3 DVD. ABC doesn't seem interested in releasing an Oz region copy of these and the other region discs seem to be disappearing.

Any hints where I could get these copies ?

Cheers

[renormalised]

Another thing I like too from Discovery....their series on warplanes:):)

[CraigS]

Suzy's a warplanes guru too, aren't you Suzy ?

What is it with warplanes you guys ??
:screwy:

Have ya ever read Chuck Yeager's autobiography ?? Now there's a real eye-popper :eyepop:
:)

Cheers

[Suzy]

Carl, are you watching the war planes series currently on the History Channel? The last few were "Air Australia" and the one before that was on the Kitty Hawk, and the one before that was on James Jabara, and I need to take a breath, I'm in war plane heaven this month. :cool: Oh, I think I need to watch Top Gun now for the zillionth time... :lol:

Craig, the Universe Series is produced by the "History Channel", you could be barking up the wrong tree at the Abc shop perhaps:question:. Ring JB Hi Fi, Sanity, Hmv. I see they have release the blue ray version in the UK and States of the full series. Is your player zone limited is it?

EDIT: I hope I don't get into trouble for going off topic..

[CraigS]

Ha !! Top Gun ?? "The need for speed" (& Kelly McGillis !) an oldy but a goody!
But what about Chuck Yeager's autobiography ??? Top read, that one.

I'm afraid to say that the only peace and quiet I get, (when it comes to watching movies), at our place, is when I sneak off into a quiet room and watch my own personal, portable 7 inch DVD player (which is also fairly temperamental) ! Ie: it seems to work best for Region 4 DVDs.

Have tried JB Hifi, EzyDVD, ABC, Sanity etc. Could order them off the web but I haven't had much success that way, in the past.

Cheers
PS: Yes, we're off topic but... hey that's the norm 'round here ain't it ?
PPS: Carl only reads textbooks ... he's data reductionist at the moment !! (Whatever that means !!)

[Suzy]

No I haven't Craig - I'll certainly be chasing it up, thank you.

[renormalised]

Not at present, I'm too busy with uni work.

I've seen Top Gun that many times, I could fly an F14 in my sleep!!!....if I could find one that was flying, that is:):P

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: yes i am enjoying this show too :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Jen]

:) yes the universe is my favourite series i downloaded them all from the internet :rolleyes: shhhhhhhhhhhh :lol::lol:

[Esseth]

Yeah i loved The Universe as well, as well as Cosmos all saved on IQ from when it aired on like Hallmark channel or something random like that.

[CraigS]

I only have Season One DVDs of "The Universe". The best episode for me, was "Beyond the Big Bang" ... probably because it's what The History channel does best ... History !
Great episode that one .. done with lots of respect for our forebears !!
I think the BBC seems to do the best at docos. That's also been said before, somewhere at IIS.

Sorry 'bout clogging up your thread Suzy.

Getting back to the topic :



Cheers & Rgds

[Suzy]

Bump - Don't forget this is on Saturday Morning.

I welcome your feedback on this episode when you have watched it.:)

[astroron]

I can't watch this series, but I have just finished watching Carl Sagen's COSMOS episodes One and Two:), only Eleven more to go:D
this will be about the fourth time.

[CraigS]

Ok. Just watched "Stars". Absolutely fantastic graphics !! Best I've seen so far!
Material was great. Plenty of details, and I couldn't find anything in the commentary/points they made, that I could find fault with.

The astronomer types were all good. Kaku seems to make it into everything thesedays .. Krauss turned up and made his points ...liked Michelle Thaller (Astronomer) and Eve Stenson. Good balance of Astros and Physicists !

Good coverage of the end-to-end main sequence.

Hows about that laser gizmo at Oxford which induces Fusion (albeit, only momentarily) ? There's no doubt about it, the Americans might have the money, but I really do think that the English Physics research guys still lead the charge when it comes to the in-depth research ! Whenever they turn up in docos, the credibility of what they're talking about just shoots up, doesn't it ?

Great one Suzy ! Thank you.

Looking forward to Mondays .. on Black Holes, eh ?
:)
Cheers & Rgds.

[CraigS]

Ok. Just watched 'Black Holes' (BH).
My initial impression is that it was a little shallower than 'Stars'. Perhaps this is because of the need to reduce the complexity on the theoretical side, which at this stage, is mostly where the interesting bits of information about BHs are, for me. My views:

- I cracked up at Kaku's comment that the first thing he teaches is that "Gravity Sucks !". We have one enthusiast here who denies it (even presents the opposite view in his Avatar/header) !
- They seemed to 'hype' the impending threats/doom, unnecessarily.
- Phil Plat (Astronomer) seemed to be a big 'hyper', surprisingly.
- They skirted Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) a little - pity.
- Kaku again - "we are completely clueless when it comes to singularities" .. some theoretical types might take offence to this comment :)
- Covered Andrea Ghez's (Astronomer) discoveries on central Milky Way (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=65788) SMBH fairly well. (Best photo I've ever seen here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=65707&page=2) - thanks to multiweb Marc, by the way)
- Covered the main observing platforms briefly - SWIFT, Chandra, Keck, etc.
- Physicist 'Shep Doeleman' seemed well grounded (compared to the 'hyper' types).
- More could be said about quasar light but again, perhaps this aspect was 'dumbed down a bit for the target audience/demographic.
- Awesome graphics - yet again ! Best I've seen so far !

Thanks again Suzy, for the 'heads-up'. Overall, I'm finding the series entertaining and of very good quality.

Cheers & Rgds

[Suzy]

I haven't watched the "Black Holes" episode yet, but will do tonight. :)

Regarding the "Stars" episode, finally (after watching many astro docos), hubby and I finally found out how gold is formed from supernova bursts when they explained and showed it through graphics. I kept playing this part over and over again. :scared2:

I'm glad to see Michelle Thaller and Kaku involved in this series as I enjoy their presentations. I enjoy Michelle's enthusiasm and as for Kaku, I can listen to him all day. :jump2::einstein: Michelle's been busy lately, seems she's been everywhere -"The Universe" (later series), The Known Universe, and now this current new series.

Craig, I am thoroughly enjoying your feedback from these episodes - thank you. :thumbsup:

Next week's episode is on the Big Bang.

[renormalised]

R process....that's what forms gold and other elements heavier than iron/nickel in supernova explosions:)

[CraigS]

Suzy;
If you're really interested, have a look at Wikipedia Stellar nucleosynthesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis).

Gold (atomic mass = 196), is heavier than Iron (atomic mass = 56), so follow the R-process and S-process links. (These are the two processes which result in the creation of elements heavier than Iron, like Gold).

The R-process (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-process) is a nucleosynthesis process, likely occurring in core-collapse supernovae and is responsible for for about 50% of atomic nuclei heavier than Iron and works by slow neutron capture. It occurs mainly in "Asymptotic giant branch" stars (AGB) - a fancy term for low-to-medium mass stars.

The other 50%, is coutesy of the S-process (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-process). It differs from the more rapid R-process of neutron-capture, because of its slower capture rate. It also occurs in AGB stars at relatively lower neutron densities and intermediate temperature conditions inside the star.

The R-process is believed to occur over time scales of seconds in explosive environments, the S-process is believed to occur over time scales of thousands of years.

Interesting to think of it this way, next time you look at that jewellery, huh?
(I may have just saved hubby some money on future anniversaries ! .. Err .. at least that was my intention).

:)

Cheers & Rgds

[renormalised]

No....rapid neutron capture, core collapse supernovae:)

AGB's are a very specific stage in the evolution of giant stars. AGB stage is the second climb to gianthood for stars that occurs after the helium flash within the cores of the stars. It's also the stage where the stars reach maximum size and luminosity just before they become unstable and start to puff off their outer layers to become planetary nebs. This starts to occur once the stars build up enough carbon and oxygen ash in their cores to shutdown the nuclear reactions there. Then the helium burning moves out into a shell around the core, along with hydrogen burning as well.

It's the S process which occurs in AGB's. It's where you get elements like fluorine, chlorine, silicon etc, forming. Most of the heavier trans Fe elements forming in the S process are things like Te, Ce, Bi, Pb etc.

[CraigS]

Correct !!
A cut & paste error ...

As Bert says, "I always leave some rope lying around to jump up and lynch unwary onlookers with !"

(Pretty weak excuse to quote from others because of my mistake, huh ?).

:)

Cheers

[renormalised]

I left the knot loose:):P

[Suzy]

:DThank you Craig & Carl for that very informative reading. Craig, thank you for those links, I will read them later today.

And Craig, you must have read my mind, because I have been wondering how long it takes for gold fusion to take place. Seconds - wow. It did look very quick on the graphics as shown in the series.

Also, I have been looking to no avail to find a book on stars (the physics side) and will start a thread in this section soon. Hope you'll can help me out. Don't answer here, please wait for thread



I'm afraid to say that it just makes me want that gold even more, Craig. . Nothing under Sovereign please. :D
As for gold from hubby, I have to wait another 25 years of marriage to get paid off in gold, be a nice change from paper, wood and tin anyway. 50 years service in a marriage- I'd be wanting a hell of a lot gold. :lol: Hmmm.. though in 2 years, I will actually hit silver, finally, something that won't break, tear or corrode. Time for me to go and design some jewellery I think...

[renormalised]

Ya too slow, Suzy:):P

Just posted a thread for you:)

[Jen]

:thumbsup: yes im loving this series too the graphics are awsome ;)

[CraigS]

Ok. Just watched "Big Bang". Not bad, but I found it a little bit repetitive. "Stars" still wins out, in my view.

- Absolutely awesome graphics with 3D zoom ins & outs of Nebulae etc. Great colours. Full marks to them for this.
- Kaku had all the lines in this one: "The Big Bang is the Holy Grail of Physics" .. (chuckle, chuckle).
- Even managed to squeeze in Hawking this time, (on God .. what else?), alongside the regulars .. Krauss, Janna Levin, Carlos Frenk, etc.
- Difficult topic to cover as it is mostly theoretical.
- Hubble expansion, Penzias & Wilson, COBE & WMAP data gets a mention.
- Touched on the concept of 'something from nothing'. I would have liked to hear more on this.
- Inflation greater than lightspeed from the outset, touched on.
- Energy/matter conversion, matter/antimatter, Chaos at the outset.
- CERN/LHC got a mention - big beastie, mind-blowing machine this one !
- Kaku: "We are the leftovers of the Big Bang" … what a cack !! :lol:
- Density fluctuations thru to co-elescing gas model of galaxy formation;
- Dark energy mentioned (no dark matter, interestingly)
- Kaku quoting Woody Allen (as a philosopher): "Eternity is a really long time .. especially the end". What a corker !
- Really liked the zoom-ins & outs of Kaku in Central Park, NY.

I'm enjoying it .. not as much depth as I'd hoped for .. but that's probably just me.

Whaddya reckon, Suzy ?

Cheers & Rgds
PS: No gold in this one for you, Suzy :sadeyes:

[AdrianF]

I have just watched the first(?) episode "The Big Bang" nice show. I will watch the rest of the shows when I get time.
Still trying to get my head around "The Big Bang" starting the Universe from absolutely nothing to what it is today.

Adrian

[CraigS]

Hi Adrian;

Pretty cool stuff, eh ?

Remember its all based on a theory of 'best fit' (compared with other theories). In many areas, it explains the majority of available evidence and makes some observable, and not-yet-observable predictions.

It doesn't have to be 'true' … even though that is very often, the way it is presented.

Cheer & Rgds.

[renormalised]

It's like they say..."You don't let the facts get in the way of the truth".

What is, and what is the truth are two entirely different things.

[Suzy]

Adrian, glad you're enjoying the show. "Stars" was the first episode, and "Black Holes" was the second.

Craig, as usual you have given a terrific account of the show. Thank you.

I have to agree with you. "Stars" is by far the best. "Black Holes had quite a bit of "what if's" and then drama on the outcomes of those "what ifs". I get impatient (so does hubby) when shows do that. The Universe started doing plenty of that towards later series and it drove me bonkers because I wasn't actually learning anything. I still enjoy the Universe series though (whilst my fingers are in ears and my eyes are shut during those segments). Despite this show doing it too, I still found it enjoyable and THE GRAPHICS are incredible.

I haven't watched "The Big Bang" episode yet. Will watch it tonight.

Next episode is titled "Galaxies". I hope Michelle Thaller will be in this one. Just love her enthusiasm.

[AdrianF]

Thanks Suzy someone gave me a birthday present, a DVD of series 1 on it and I just went in order on the DVD.

Adrian

[renormalised]

Well, I hate to tell you all this but most of what you'll learn is "what if". You'll have to get used to this because that is precisely what science is about.

[CraigS]

I think the 'what ifs' Suzy is referring to are mostly the over-dramatised 'threats from outer space' style stuff they add in to US audience targetted documentaries … supposedly to keep you on the edge of your chair.

I find this style annoying, too. The History Channel "The Universe" was full of this kind of material. As I mentioned before, the best Episode, I found, was the last one from Season One: 'Beyond The Big Bang'. Mainly because it didn't contain any of this type of hype. 'Twas just the historical facts. Left me feeling quite light, yet grounded.

Cheers

[Suzy]

Precisely Craig, thanks for explaining clearly to Carl. Your explanation is spot on with what I was talking about.

I should have explained it better Carl, apologies. Most people that have watched the Universe shows to the end of the series would know what I am talking about though. ;) But I should have made it clear to those that haven't.

[renormalised]

That's why I don't really like a lot of the US stuff...it's too superficial despite the content.

[renormalised]

I've seen the series several times myself. I know what you meant, but I also added what I did because others would see what you said as meaning the usual "what if" as a legitimate question, not as something to add some dramatic license to a doco'.

[CraigS]

Content-wise it is difficult to surpass the English BBC docos.
The photography/effects in the US ones really are tremendous, though.
This Discovery series is better than the History Channel 'The Universe' ones in that respect. Perhaps because it is more recent (& thus they have access to better astro 3D stills ?)

Cheers

[renormalised]

BBC doco's, especially "Horizon" shows, have always been the best.

[AdrianF]

In regards to the episodes of "How The Universe Works" is this the correct order of the episodes?

1 "Big Bang"
2 "Black Holes"
3 "Alien Galaxies"
4 "Extreme Stars"
5 "Supernovas"
6 "Extreme Planets"
7 "Alien Solar Systems"
8 "Alien Moons"

It probably doesnt matter which way I watch the episodes but........

Adrian

[Suzy]

Hi Adrian, this is all I'm able to access so far (Foxtel on-line only give two weeks info).

Black Holes
Big Bang http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/atom.gif
Galaxies
Solar Systems http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/atom.gif

Thanks for that list by the way- now I know what to expect. I can't wait to see the supernova & extreme stars episodes! :party:

[AdrianF]

The list came from the DVD I have and from Wikipedia.

Adrian

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Universe_Works?wasRedirecte d=true

I am about to start watching the episodes. Can't bet the scope out too much rain again. Looked promising this afternoon blue skies everywhere but now rain again.

[CraigS]

Ok .. watched "Galaxies" last night … not bad .. getting a bit repetitive in parts .. superb photography (an emerging characteristic of this series).

- Great shots of Milky Way, Eagle - Pillars, M87, Whirlpool, Sombrero.
- Kaku: "Hubble (telescope) was an EXISTENTIAL SHOCK" … cackle, cackle ..
- Walked thru the Hubble Deep Field, revisiting Hubble's Law etc
- Went through galaxy shapes, dark matter role in shaping them
- Superclusters, the Local Group and touched on the Scale of the Universe - Hierarchy, etc;
- Some words on Quasars and Super Massive Black Holes (SMBH);
- Good overview of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Scope and results;
- Talked about The Great Sloan Wall - nice to hear about this
- Touched on Gravitational Lensing - clumpiness of Dark Matter;
- Dark Energy and expansion
- Andromeda/Milky Way collision. Alarmism from Kaku "The Destruction of our own Galaxy" .. a bit over the top, there, Michio.
- For Suzy: had some of those female AstroPhysicists - Ghez, Suzanne Staggs(?) offset by others: Cox, Michael Strauss, Jeremiah Ostriker, TJ Cox, Kaku and Krauss.

Overall, not bad. I found the segment on the SDSS the most interesting. It has a 1K pound camera - pretty heavy ! Hate to try & mount that one on a dob !!
:)
Cheers & Rgds.
PS: SUZY: Ya gotta see this thread (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=639634#post639634) .. now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about !!

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: i downloaded them all hehe i really enjoyed them ;)

[CraigS]

Hi Jen !

Er .. downloaded what ? The episodes or the 'other thread' ?

:lol:

Cheers

[narky]

Not sure on the legalities of posting torrents here, however I'm sure anyone who has legitimately purchased a copy might still like a place to download a backup just in case. (you just need a torrent client) :whistle:

How the Universe Works:

Stars (http://eztv.it/ep/22563/discovery-ch-how-the-universe-works-season-1-1of8-stars-pdtv-xvid-mp3-mvgroup/)
black holes (http://eztv.it/ep/22615/discovery-ch-how-the-universe-works-season-1-2of8-black-holes-pdtv-xvid-mp3-mvgroup/)
big bang
(http://eztv.it/ep/22672/discovery-ch-how-the-universe-works-season-1-3of8-big-bang-pdtv-xvid-mp3-mvgroup/)galaxies
(http://eztv.it/ep/22685/discovery-ch-how-the-universe-works-season-1-4of8-galaxies-pdtv-xvid-mp3-mvgroup/)solar systems (http://eztv.it/ep/22713/discovery-ch-how-the-universe-works-season-1-5of8-solar-systems-pdtv-xvid-mp3-mvgroup/)

Other shows from EZTV (http://eztv.it):

History Chanel's The Universe (5 seasons worth to choose from)
Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (3 episodes, aliens, time travel, history of everything),
Phil Plait(of Bad Astronomy)'s Bad Universe (just aired the first episode last week),
National Geo's Extreme Universe (6 episodes).

Just goto the Search field and type in Universe.

:party2:

[Jen]

;) yeah what Sam said :lol::lol: all the episodes :P

[renormalised]

I reckon they should have a companion program to this one, called "How the Universe Doesn't Work"....I can think of a few crackpot theories, right now, that come to mind with regards to this:)

[Suzy]

Doh! I just realised that extreme stars episode is the one I saw, just knew it as "Stars".

[Suzy]

I have just put a post in the science section, for what I normally would have posted here (and added some extra info). I have gone on to talk about the "Big Bang" episode of "How The Universe Was Made" series, along with a couple of mentioned books. Please stop by and add your comments there, as it is pretty much a follow up on to this thread. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/thanx.gif

[narky]

New episode out .. Moons :

http://forums.mvgroup.org/torrents/Discovery.Ch.How.the.Universe.Works .Season.1.6of8.Moons.PDTV.XviD.MP3. MVGroup.org.avi.torrent

[CraigS]

Ok. Just watched 'Solar Systems'.

The graphics just keep getting better in this series. Lots of interplanetary collisions and orbital chaos in this episode.

- slightly different set of presenters in this one. All astronomers: Phil Plait featured heavily, Michelle Thaller, Hal Levinson and Geoff Marcy;
- dealt with star creation, left over dust, planetary dust co-elescence.
- how do planets grow ..
- touched on Kuiper belt and Oort cloud (still theoretical);
- interesting snippet on presence of Lithium in the Sun - caused by a collision?
- comets and asteroids included - fantastic collision graphics here !
- Shoemaker/Levi collision on Jupiter.
- Onto exoplanets Gliese 581 and the 'Habitable Zone' (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=66430), although we did it better (just kidding - see the link). Very up-to-date in this regard - well done !
- touched on Kepler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_Mission) spacecraft for detecting exoplanets;
- got onto life (see above IIS Science Forum link for a good rap on this topic).

All in all, another good episode. I don't think I'd like to see the entire series back-to-back on DVD, if they ever come out. A little too repetitive from episode to episode (from my perspective).

The graphics however, would probably make it worthwhile.

Cheers

[Suzy]

As usual Craig, I'm an episode behind you so haven't watched "Solar Systems" yet.

Still trying to get over how great that "big bang" episode was. Quote from episode, " In the first three minutes everything interesting that was going to happen, happend". Wow, I had a moment there:eyepop:. Another quote: "Scientist calculate it took 380,00 years for the electrons to slow down enough so that the universe could start mass producing atoms..... It will take another 200 million years before those gases create the first stars. ... one billion years after the big bang the first galaxy forms, over the next 8 bilion years, countless more take shape."

As for the galaxies one, I didn't like it as much as the others. Probably because they covered a lot of stuff that's often repeated.
Can't wait to watch "Solar Systems". :D

[CraigS]

An interesting paper has just turned up which is an adjunct to some of the material presented in the "Solar System" episode about Neptune's orbital impact on Kuiper Belt objects.

I've just posted a reference to the journo's article in the Science Forum (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=642960#post642960) for anyone interested in these matters.

Cheers

[Suzy]

Interesting Craig. I'll watch that episode first (most likely tonight) before I have a look at that thread.

[Kevin Trendy]

Is this the same series that is screening on that new 7mate channel at the moment?
I was watching an episode about asteroids Sunday morning and how in 2029 the asteroid apophis will be closer to us than our comms satellites. Should make for some great/scary viewing.

[Suzy]

Hi Brett, I don't think that would be the same series, as this one is a Discovery Channel series on Foxtel.
That Asteroid that you are talking about no longer poses an immediate threat, so the alert has been droppped. 2036 maybe a different story with this asteroid. This asteroid by the way was the highest alert raised for an asteroid.
http:////en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis)

[astroron]

Well I suppose there will be plenty of time to watch DVD's video's and Foxtel shows with all this crappy weather around :sadeyes:
and record a few for later Ron;)

[Suzy]

:lol::rofl::rofl:
hahaha. I've been using that term in my house for years, "I'm saving it for ron". :lol: You did it again Ron, made me laugh despite my upsetting week.

[shelltree]

I'm about half way through the first episode "Big Bang", it's fantastic so far! And Lawrence Krauss is making quite a few appearances too! :love:

[CraigS]

Moons episode ...

Saw “Moons” last night. Good graphics (again) different simulation sequences and a different bunch of scientist types. I kinda enjoyed it.

- Enter the notorious ‘Astrobiologists’ - Chris Mackay, David Grinspoon, (didn’t catch the rest of the names);
- Went thru Io, Europa, Triton, Titan, Phobos, Deimos, our Moon, Enceladus, didn’t catch the others. Went into the creation theories of each. Very interesting and good coverage of the more interesting moons in our Solar System.

- Interviews with Planetary Scientists were good and included one of my favourites, Carolyn Porco (Head of Cassini Imaging). Really like her presentation style .. totally credible and ‘the real deal’. Amanda Hendrix featured prominently, also (big hair).

- Funny part was some mad scientist (missed his name), playing with NASA’s ‘vertical gun’ in order to simulate Theia collision with early Earth … he got very ‘excited ..“THAT is gorgeous” .. a classic quote (from a man playing with a BIG gun).
:)
Discussed briefly the possibility of sending a remote probe underneath Europa’s ice. I’m not sure if I’d back this one. Its technically very difficult, very risky and very expensive. Chances of successful detection of lifeforms seems fairly slim with our current technologies. Decontamination prior to departure also seems fraught with problems. There are several other proposals which are less ambitious technologically, and could possibly achieve similar goals with much less risk. Will be interesting to see which option they eventually go with.

Good thought stimulating episode.

Cheers

[shelltree]

Just about half way through "Extreme Stars". I am loving it, really great stuff! " :) (I'm watching them on youtube as I don't have foxtel)

[CraigS]

Onya Shelley …

I've been a bit negligent in doing my usual updates on this thread. I think I've missed 'Planets' and 'Supernovae' episodes ? (I've forgotten).

Apologies for that … Suzy and others.

Cheers

[shelltree]

Just watching "Alien Solar Systems" now. Quite amazing how they believe that Uranus and Neptune's orbits maybe have been different originally and much closer to the sun but that the combined gravity of Saturn and Jupiter threw their orbits further out. They also discuss the possibility of Neptune having been in a closer orbit than Uranus and that they may have crossed paths as both Neptune and Uranus were pushed further out by Jupiter and Saturn.

Or at least that's what I concluded they meant, I don't know much about this stuff to excuse me if I'm wrong :ashamed: