*********************************************************************
SPACE NEWS E-MAIL, March 18, 2014
*********************************************************************
SPACE NEWS E-MAIL, March 18, 2014
*********************************************************************
Two episodes of the new Cosmos series, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, have now aired. If you haven’t yet watched, I strongly encourage you to do so. Dr. Tyson is doing a great job of carrying on Carl Sagan’s legacy, and I’m sure you will enjoy it. I also hope the show will inspire you to want to learn even more, and with that in mind…
The University of Colorado’s Fiske Planetarium is hosting commentary/Q&A sessions on Monday nights following broadcast of each new Cosmos episode; they are also streaming the Q&A live and posting the video on Youtube. Many of the questions that occur to you when watching the show probably have also been asked by audience members, so I hope you’ll find the Q&A session useful. Key notes:
- Last night’s session was hosted by Fiske Director Doug Duncan and myself. The direct link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZXCLG84U1s. Please note that this was the first time Fiske tried the live video, so the sound and picture quality aren’t optimal (and you can’t see the slides at the beginning), but we hope to improve that for future sessions.
- The Q&A sessions will continue each Monday night throughout the series, sometimes with Doug and/or me, sometimes with other University of Colorado astronomers. To find the link for streaming live or watching later, please see the Fiske facebook page.
- If you happen to live in the Boulder/Denver area, come join us in person! The events run Monday evenings from 7-8:30pm with a showing of the Cosmos episode followed by the commentary and Q&A. Please arrive by 6:45pm to get everyone seated and started on time. Cosmos is great on your TV, but even better on the big Fiske dome.
- If you have additional questions relating to the episode that have not been answered in the Q&A sessions, please send them to me, and I’ll try to post answers periodically on this blog. Teachers: Feel free to collect questions from your classes and send them along as well.
For our next topic… You’ve probably heard the big news about the universe that has been covered by almost every major media outlet since it’s announcment yesterday: direct evidence for a period of “inflation” in the early universe. As usual, you’ll fine one of the best writeups about the discovery on “Bad Astronomer” Phil Plait’s blog; we also discussed it briefly in the Cosmos Q&A last night, which you’ll find at the Youtube video link above.
Finally, while I have your attention, a few additional announcements:
- Tonight: For all the insomniacs out there, I’ll be on Coast to Coast AM tonight for 3 hours starting at 11pm Pacific time, midnight mountain time, 1am central time, 2am eastern time.
- Tomorrow night for New York and other East coast locations: a rare astronomical event, in which an asteroid will temporarily pass in front of and block out the light of the bright star Regulus, will occur late Wednesday night (about 2 a.m on Thursday, March 20). For details on whether it will be visible from your area and how to watch it, see this Sky and Telescope article.
- Story Time From Space update: All five books have now been read from orbit. We’ve also completed Japanese and Russian translations of the books and are working to arrange readings by the current crew that includes astronauts of those nationalities. If you haven’t already, please be sure to “like” the Story Time From Space facebook page. Also please see the new space.com article about the program.
- My TV interview with Barry Kibrick about Math for Life is currently airing on PBS channels, different dates in different locations — see http://www.barrykibrickblogs.com/p/episode-listings.html for each week’s schedule. Also: You can listen to my KGNU radio interview about What is Relativity?, and another coming soon on Colorado Public Radio’s Colorado Matters show.
- I’ve joined Twitter, though can’t promise I’ll find time to send much out. Follow @JeffreyOBennett.
Hope you enjoy the Cosmos series and the Fiske Q&A sessions!