Posts: 10,161
Threads: 343
Joined: Apr 2009
Possibly of interest to some here (and apologies for being quite late with this). At 9pm tonight (Weds 20th June) PBS is showing Nova's "Hunting the Edge of Space: The mystery of the Milky Way". It's a repeat of a show first shown in 2010 I think but I haven't seen it yet. I don't think it shows much from the observatories here although I know Matt Mountain is in it. He used to be the director of the Gemini Observatory here on the Big Island (and also used to work at UKIRT). He's now director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
Tom
http://apacificview.blogspot.com/
Posts: 10,161
Threads: 343
Joined: Apr 2009
Well, I enjoyed the show. Some bits were a touch out of date but to Nova's credit they actually gave an update right at the end about the number of planets being discovered (many from Hawaiian-based telescopes). There was some video of the Mauna Kea telescopes from time to time but not much, nor was Matt Mountain a particularly prominent commentator during the show, but he was there. There's a second part to the show which will be shown next Weds (27th June) at 9pm but unfortunately I'll be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean then so won't be able to see it. In any case, here's a bit more of a heads-up for the show next week!
The show went into the history of astronomy, specifically the invention of the telescope and how that revolutionized our understanding of the solar system, our Galaxy and the universe. It didn't have anything about the history of astronomy in Hawaii but given they had to fit this into an hour-long program that didn't surprise me (visit the Imiloa planetarium show if you want to get that perspective).
Nova gets repeated on PBS at 2pm HST every Sunday, so if anyone wants to catch up you can see it then.
Tom
http://apacificview.blogspot.com/
Posts: 2,149
Threads: 90
Joined: Feb 2006
Thanks for posting this, Tom. I watched the show and enjoyed it very much. I was especially fascinated by the bit about the guy in Ireland who in the 1840's privately built what was then the largest telescope in the world. I'll be in Texas next week, and I hope they have the show there.
Thanks Tom,
Were you up there in the breeze this week ?
1. Step on corners of beach towel, grab top corners and lean forward, sheet in / out by changing width and cord with hand grip on top corners.
aloha,
pog
Posts: 10,161
Threads: 343
Joined: Apr 2009
Pog, yes, it was a little breezy up there over the weekend! I think winds touched 80 mph at times. I wasn't up there but nor was anyone else - most if not all the day and night crews evacuated because it was just a little too dangerous. I remember being up there in the late 90s when we had similar winds and Gemini was under construction - the evacuation was quite exciting as all the unsecured building material was flying towards our telescope. Some of the sheet metal could have easily decapitated someone!
Jerry - hope you get to see the second episode. Since it's a repeat show it might be available online, but I haven't checked if that's the case.
Tom
http://apacificview.blogspot.com/
Posts: 1,351
Threads: 80
Joined: Jul 2008
Sorry I didn't see this Tom...I miss visiting Imiloa...it's been a while and whenever in the planetarium I feel like a kid again... I'll have to do something about this! Mahalo!
Carrie
http://www.sapphiresoap.etsy.com
http://www.septemberspirals.etsy.com
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
Carrie Rojo
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
Posts: 2,490
Threads: 222
Joined: Dec 2005
I saw it but I think the creation of the universe on discover or science channel is much more educational. I have that series in AVI format if anyone is interested I could squeeze them all on a DVD. Or if you bring me a thumb drive I could copy them all on there. Amazing stuff.
Posts: 10,161
Threads: 343
Joined: Apr 2009
Ericlp - I haven't seen the shows you mention so have no idea if they're better or not. I'd love to see them but have no idea how to get you a thumb drive!
Bear in mind that many shows seem great but get the science wrong. I don't know about the shows you mention, but know that Nova often gets it wrong as well. In this case they didn't get into too much about science explanations, it was more history and telescopes than anything else, so it was hard for them to lose the plot. I've seen too many "science" shows, such as Nova, put across the wrong message and I'm not sure the Discover or Science channel are better (I've never heard of the Science Channel by the way). I hope I can see the shows you refer to one day, but it'd be great if you could mention which ones they are.
Carrie - if you get to Imiloa there's a show called Awesome Light 3. I'm not sure when they show it but it includes a lot of data we took - infrared images of the Galactic plane and all sorts of interesting stuff about our Galaxy and right out to the edge of the observable universe. We got to see a preview a while ago and am assuming it's public now, but if it isn't it should be out there soon. I still can't get my head around the number of stars we've been looking at and I'm supposed to be a pro!
Kathy - thanks for that! I'm sure I must have given these links here before, but just to show astronomers have other talents other than being nerdy scientists, these videos are from a group that use the IRTF up at the summit:
http://youtu.be/XPdTlHK1h_0
http://youtu.be/pgIADiDSpO4
Tom
http://apacificview.blogspot.com/
Love the videos, Tom! Thanks!
The Hotel Mauna Kea is my favorite of the two. Very impressive.
