Star Gazing Live 3-5th Jan BBC2 Heads Up

[DaveH64]

Should be interesting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/glasgowandwestscotland/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9287000/9287576.stm

[Paul]

Indeed it will be Dave. I've been working with the guys in BBC Learning on this and we (the Irish Astronomical Association) are running supporting events on 3rd and 14th January - see the IAA website for details...

http://irishastro.org.uk/

Obviously I'll be watching the programme afterwards on Sky+ or the iplayer

For those who come along, I have a quantity of Stargazing Guides which are very good, taking the form of a A6 binder with starmaps and guides for the whole year - also included is a small compass to help get those bearings right.

For the astrophographers there's a Flickr group associated with the programmes from which shots will be used on air. Here in Northern Ireland we also have some interest from the local news programme and depending what type of a news day it is we may have them in attendance!

All this and more on the programme's website....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wnvpf

[DaveH64]

Thanks for that Paul, Thought something might have been happening locally to me as they are in the process of funding a Observatory.

http://doonvalleyphotographyandweather.blogspot.com/2010_03_14_archive.html

[martinastro]

Looking forward to watching the programme too, I have been getting emails and phone calls from the BBC on this for the last couple of weeks. Can't wait...

[markt]

Just been contacted by people at Faulkes Telescope, i'm booked up pretty much all day on monday 3rd January to observe using the FT north and south.  Will be sent coordinates for target images in due time.  Excited about this now!  Lets just hope for clear skies over Hawaii and Sidings Springs so the scope gets some use!   

[markt]

Finally got my Target list for the FT for today for BBC Stargazing Live- M1, M42 & M82.  Hopefully should get a shot at Scheila aswell if time / clouds permit.  Again, time permitting want to try and image Eris too...

Will keep you posted, as soon as I have any images i'll pop them up here

[Big Dipper]

Very much looking forward to seeing those Mark. Best of luck (especially with M1 which I've never found particularly easy to observe or image).

[Big Dipper]

Well I have read some very opinionated comments, both for & against the series, on various forums. A pity that the weather didn't exactly 'play ball' during most of the three day/night period but it was great to see a few meteors in last night's (i.e. Tuesday) edition whilst Mark Thompson was both with 'Wossie' and then whilst 'live' on camera as well (move the IPlayer cursor to 25:17 for meteor through Orion, then to 25:37 for meteor through Ursa Major & finally to 43:20 - action replay at 55:51 - for the 'live' one).

Congrats to Martin on having one of his images appear on screen during the closing credits on tonight's final programme (move the 'play' cursor on the BBC IPlayer to 58:43 to see it).

[paulster78]

Yes congrats Martin on getting your aurora image displayed-nice one!   An enjoyable show and as mentioned nice to see it on earlier in the night to appeal to a wider audience.

[markt]

Yes, well done Martin on your Aurora pic!

[Paul]

Well done Martin, that was a fitting end to the series.

I understand the criticism of the series and indeed I was discussing it with one of the producers who rang me about it, and I explained that I liked it a great deal on the basis that it was not pitched at my level. I'm a Sky at Night man on the basis that I want to hear from the Professors about their latest work, but that's not a starting point for Beginners, unless you want to frighten them away!

So for what the series set out to do, it id it well. Now we need it on once a month to maintain the interest that leads people to join societies and find their way up to "Sky at Night" level!

Paul.

[martinastro]

Thanks very much everyone, it sure was a treat to get an image on a prime time TV programme like that. 

I watched all three episodes and enjoyed the sections on solar storms, solar observing, meteorites, and impact craters, I instantly spotted that borderline fireball behind the guy with the telescope. I would like to have seen more in the way of amateur observing and gear talk etc and less on spacecraft, science fiction ,and telescopws on mountain tops. I think the show has great potential if a few weak links are ironed out and with time it would get polished into an excellent programme, I also would like to see more celebs involved in astronomy too, it certainly helps the image of an observer.

I thought Dr. Brian Cox was excellent as always, he's exploding with knowledge he wants to share, I can really sense his passion. I would like a section where experienced observers share their top observing experiences eg: a great comet, meteor storm, or aurora, complete with images, descriptions and video replaying the event. Coverage of major historical sky events would be great too. There's so much potential here, it would be good to see a regular astronomy programme on television similar to Autumn watch, maybe ever monthy or every two weeks. It could happen yet...