From the Blurb

" It's the story of everything - from the first microseconds of our universe to the exciting future of first contact and homes beyond our Earth. Join Adam Hart-Davis, Janet Sumner and Maggie Aderin for a journey around the planet to discover the latest thinking about the Cosmos.

Tuesday 14 Aug 19:30 on BBC TWO"

Website:
http://open2.net/cosmos/index.html

And, dare I say it...... a FORUM, Eeeek...
http://www.open2.net/forum/forum.jspa?forumID=21

Anyone see last night's offering?

Cheers

Brian

Yes. I thought it was rather well done. Adam Hart-Davies has toned down his buffoonery and there was a blissful absence of the portentious music, bassy actor's voices and endlessly repeated computer animations that spoil so many science programmes these days.

Well - the animations were repeated in so far as we all saw them in 'The Planets' (which to date is the best series they've done I think)

It was an interesting program though - looking forward to the other 5. I'm actually signing up to start an OU course in September

Doug

Yeah, saw that too. Not bad at all. Nothing Earth-shatteringly new in its treatment of SETI... Seth Shostak was his usual bubbly, entertaining self, and Frank Drake was as calm and inspiring as ever. I think the graphics could have been better - we've moved on since "The Planets"; that 'zoom out' shot from the Milky Way looked very dated - but AHD was a good presenter and it will have given newcomers a good introduction.

OT I know, but I've just finished watching the DVD of the live stage version of Jeff Wayne's "The War Of The Worlds" and it's beyond excellent. You owe it to yourself to see it, seriously!

Yes I thought it was quite good too. Nothing too flashy I expect partly because it is supporting some OU courses. It's being quite widely advertised within the OU, and I don't think they would mind if I copied the PR here. (Let me know if I've overstepped the mark here but PR is supposed to be disseminated after all. :-)

The Cosmos: a Beginner's Guide

On Tuesday 7 August, The Cosmos: A Beginner's Guide will be shown on BBC Two at 19.30. This is a new six-part series presented by Adam Hart-Davis that tackles big questions about the solar system, space and the universe in general: How were they made? Are we alone? What’s the furthest thing we can see? Is there another Earth somewhere?

In order to maximise the benefits of OU television and radio programmes, it is expected that current students should be recommended to watch the broadcasts where they have a clear relevance to their course and programme of study.

The new series links into a number of courses in the Science and Technology Faculties:
· S194 Introducing astronomy
· S196 Planets: an introduction
· S197 How the universe works
· S282 Astronomy
· S283 Planetary science and the search for life
· SXR208 Observing the universe
· S357 Space, time and cosmology
· S381 The energetic universe
· T184 Robotics and the meaning of life

Programme synopses:

Life In The Cosmos
Are we alone? Adam is at the Allen Telescope Array in Northern California, the first 24/7 alien-tracking facility and using the latest technology to find radio messages from intelligent beings. Should we take this seriously? Adam quizzes the guru of ET hunting, Frank Drake. Reports include the new robot that will use life-molecules from earth to lock onto possible life on Mars, and an amazing Open University experiment that will send Earth bugs into space, to prove that life can survive space travel and could have travelled to earth on a comet.

Building the Universe
How would you build a universe? Adam is at the world’s biggest experiment, 27km long and buried under the city of Geneva. Here they will attempt to blast their way back to the beginning of the universe, creating conditions that haven’t existed since a fraction of a second after the big bang. We will also meet a man who makes his own universes, though they don’t always turn out like the real thing. Janet Sumner visits the lab in Oxfordshire where they make stars on earth – 16,000 to date, though they only last half a second. And we meet the woman who takes her experiments on gravity defying flights to solve a problem: how did lumps of space matter stick together to form planets like earth?

How far can we see?
Adam is high in the Atacama Desert in Chile at the Very Large Telescope, the world’s largest. Set in a barren and inhospitable landscape, this place has revolutionised our view of the Cosmos. Adam sees how new technology can strip away the effects of the atmosphere, giving better images than you can get from space, and joins astronomers hunting for exploding stars at the edge of the Universe. Astronomer and Engineer Maggie Aderin finds out how amazing Hubble Space Telescope images are made – combining science and art. Reports include attempts to see the first light ever released in the universe, just after the Big Bang, and how previously invisible objects are being seen – with gravity.

Exploring the cosmos
What’s the cutting edge of space exploration? Adam is the at Europe’s space HQ near Amsterdam, where he learns that a European might be the first to step onto Mars. We join a group practicing for a mission to the red planet, and meet a woman who wants to make it more like Earth by deliberately introducing a greenhouse effect. New ways of getting into space include an elevator direct into earth orbit, and we find out what’s happened to Voyager, the most distant man-made object in the universe.

Violent Universe
At one time the ancients thought the sky was never-changing. Not any more. Adam joins a team in Leicester tracking down the biggest bangs since the big bang. We discover that something huge is lurking at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way – a ‘super massive’ black hole. Closer to home, the violent nature of the sun is about to be revealed for the first time in 3-D by a pair of new spacecraft, and Maggie Aderin investigates the threat to Earth from an asteroid that might come our way in 2036. She is joined by a scientist planning the first attempt to deflect a real asteroid – something that could one day save the earth.

Other Worlds
Are there other earth-like worlds in the Cosmos? Adam is on the island of La Palma, whose clear skies have made it a centre of the hunt for planets around distant stars – places where life in other solar systems might be found. Meanwhile, we learn about other worlds closer to home – the amazing expedition to Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, two years ago is still yielding new results, and we visit Mark Leese at the Open University to find out more.

I start S283 in Feb, and doing S196 in Sept/Nov as a precursor.

For myself I've done S196, S282 and I'm doing S357 this year.

S196 is quite good and the course chairman and Teach Yourself the Planets author, David Rothery, regularly checks and posts in the S196 forum. S283 is said to have quite a high workload, but worth it. See you in OUSA Astronomy in a couple of months then.

Have fun,
Chris.

Hmmh. Gotta check these out and see whether I now have time to start something like this since I've been saying to myself for years now that I should.

I figure that at a 4x ratio for Tesco Clubcard points being turned into OU courses - I can try the Level 1 course essentially for free - see if I like how the OU works - and then pay for the more substantial course in the new year.

Doug

Yeah, those Tesco clubcard points are a good deal. I only recently found out about them. :-(

You can get a glimpse of what S283 is like by going here:
OU S283 Europa
Two weeks work expected to study this section I believe.

Cheers,
Chris.

Just a reminder that episode 2 of this series is on this evening :

The Cosmos: A Beginner's Guide
BBC2
Tuesday 14 August
7:30pm - 8:00pm

Cheers

Brian

Officially signed up for S196 :0

Doug

Just watched the programme.
Spectacular visuals, but so many different aspects of the main subject crammed into half an hour that it gave me the impression of the BBC trying to create its own fusion reaction.

Did the BBC succeed in getting ignition? For me, as a "learned amateur" I can say Yes, but I must also report that the rest of my household (with no astronomy backround to speak of) left the settee sometime halfway the programme, say after Hubble.

"Why didn't you record it?" was the parting comment.
Nah, I'll buy the series on a DVD later on.
That's a positive about the BBC these days - their online shop is pretty good. I trust this series will find its rightful place as a DVD next to 'Alo 'alo, Blackadder etcetera

Hey, this is neat! Is enrollment @ OU open to everyone, or do you have to have UK/European citizenship?

Only thing I'm wondering is whether you guys will learn anything you don't already know (yeah, looking at you, Doug! ) Most UMSFers seem to have encyclopedic knowledge of the Solar System already.

Unfortunately, the OU's venture in the USA got canned a couple of years ago. You can enroll but the courses you can do are limited to those which you can do entirely through the internet, which excludes all the astronomy courses.

This page has the details. Put USA in the drop-down box.

Mmm, I see a Doug Ellison in the directory. I wonder if that's you, or someone else with the same name?

I've signed up for S381...

Thanks for the info, Chris.

For me, no biggie; once I finish the degree I'm working on next month (God willing), need to take a damn break anyhow. Maybe circumstances will have changed by the time I'm ready to dive back in.

Saw yesterday's episode " How far can we see? " Good stuff...
Does anyone know if this will become available on DVD ?
Best regards

Looks like the programme series will be available on DVD by Christmas...
If you log onto www.ouw.co.uk they will be listed there when they are available.

http://www.ouw.co.uk/classifications/Astronomy.shtm

Philip
http://mars-literature.skynetblogs.be/

Wow - once you're in - you have access to a lot of journals

Doug

Available on DVD now: http://www.ouw.co.uk/products/XS022_DVD01.shtm