"The sun is the hottiest planet, and it would burn you if you tried to eat it."
-Chris Peterson, "Get a Life"
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronomer. Not an astronaut, but an astronomer. After all, how often does an astronaut get to go into space; an astronomer can gaze into the universe every night! I read every astronomy book I could get my hands on, but the one I remember most vividly is an oversized book called "Our Universe" by Roy A. Gallant. I´ve always remembered the name too.
"Our Universe" (see picture on left) was a colorful picture book produced by National Geographic which had this neat section in which each of the planets was featured on its own double page. All the vital stats were listed (distance from sun, number of satellites, etc.) and I committed these all to memory. Best of all, some wonderful artist drew vivid depictions of what the alien life on each planet might look like. I have a memory of jellyfish-like creatures living on Venus, or maybe it was Neptune. I just remember they were really cool.
The History Channel´s series "The Universe" isn´t nearly as cool as that; in fact, there´s not a single jellyfish-like creature even mentioned in all of Season One. Still, the series (not to be confused with PBS´ "The Elegant Universe") offers its own awe-inspiring view of life, the universe and everything all packaged into 45 minute episodes.
Each episode introduces its subject of the week ("Saturn: Lord of the Rings!") then covers as much ground as possible on the central topic. The series balances nifty computer graphics with brief snippets of interviews with a variety of scientists. Neal deGrasse Tyson is the most frequent guest; does this guy ever get any work done between all his TV appearances? The series is designed to keep cable viewers from clicking the remote, so the talking heads are never allowed to hold court for more than about 15-20 seconds before we race on to the next nifty graphics shot. As you might imagine, the coverage remains fairly superficial, but having said that, I suspect most viewers will learn quite a bit from each episode. A sense of humor helps to kindle viewer interest as well; the episode on the outer planets provides an amusing look at the faux-outrage over poor Pluto´s recent demotion from planet to "big old hunk of rock."
There are four discs in the boxed set, each with 3 or 4 episodes (14 total).
Disc One: Secrets of the Sun, Mars: The Red Planet, The End of the Earth: Deep Space Threats to our Planet, Jupiter: the Giant Planet
Disc Two: The Moon, Spaceship Earth, The Inner Planets: Mercury and Venus
Disc Three: Saturn: Lord of the Rings, Alien Galaxies, Life and Death of a Star, The Outer Planets
Disc Four: The Most Dangerous Place in the Universe, Search for ET, Beyond the Big Bang
The series sticks to the facts, though even with the realm of hard science, there is plenty of room for fanciful speculation. All of the episodes are engrossing, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be "Alien Galaxies," just because I know so little about our "neighboring" galaxies compared to all those facts about the solar system that I have long since memorized.
And on that subject, since when did Jupiter and Saturn get so many damned moons? I have to go back and re-memorize everything now. Or maybe I´ll just stick to my trusty well-worn copy of "Our Universe." If ain´t in the good book, I don´t need to know it.
-Chris Peterson, "Get a Life"
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronomer. Not an astronaut, but an astronomer. After all, how often does an astronaut get to go into space; an astronomer can gaze into the universe every night! I read every astronomy book I could get my hands on, but the one I remember most vividly is an oversized book called "Our Universe" by Roy A. Gallant. I´ve always remembered the name too.
"Our Universe" (see picture on left) was a colorful picture book produced by National Geographic which had this neat section in which each of the planets was featured on its own double page. All the vital stats were listed (distance from sun, number of satellites, etc.) and I committed these all to memory. Best of all, some wonderful artist drew vivid depictions of what the alien life on each planet might look like. I have a memory of jellyfish-like creatures living on Venus, or maybe it was Neptune. I just remember they were really cool.
The History Channel´s series "The Universe" isn´t nearly as cool as that; in fact, there´s not a single jellyfish-like creature even mentioned in all of Season One. Still, the series (not to be confused with PBS´ "The Elegant Universe") offers its own awe-inspiring view of life, the universe and everything all packaged into 45 minute episodes.
Each episode introduces its subject of the week ("Saturn: Lord of the Rings!") then covers as much ground as possible on the central topic. The series balances nifty computer graphics with brief snippets of interviews with a variety of scientists. Neal deGrasse Tyson is the most frequent guest; does this guy ever get any work done between all his TV appearances? The series is designed to keep cable viewers from clicking the remote, so the talking heads are never allowed to hold court for more than about 15-20 seconds before we race on to the next nifty graphics shot. As you might imagine, the coverage remains fairly superficial, but having said that, I suspect most viewers will learn quite a bit from each episode. A sense of humor helps to kindle viewer interest as well; the episode on the outer planets provides an amusing look at the faux-outrage over poor Pluto´s recent demotion from planet to "big old hunk of rock."
There are four discs in the boxed set, each with 3 or 4 episodes (14 total).
Disc One: Secrets of the Sun, Mars: The Red Planet, The End of the Earth: Deep Space Threats to our Planet, Jupiter: the Giant Planet
Disc Two: The Moon, Spaceship Earth, The Inner Planets: Mercury and Venus
Disc Three: Saturn: Lord of the Rings, Alien Galaxies, Life and Death of a Star, The Outer Planets
Disc Four: The Most Dangerous Place in the Universe, Search for ET, Beyond the Big Bang
The series sticks to the facts, though even with the realm of hard science, there is plenty of room for fanciful speculation. All of the episodes are engrossing, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be "Alien Galaxies," just because I know so little about our "neighboring" galaxies compared to all those facts about the solar system that I have long since memorized.
And on that subject, since when did Jupiter and Saturn get so many damned moons? I have to go back and re-memorize everything now. Or maybe I´ll just stick to my trusty well-worn copy of "Our Universe." If ain´t in the good book, I don´t need to know it.
"The sun is the hottiest planet, and it would burn you if you tried to eat it."
-Chris Peterson, "Get a Life"
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronomer. Not an astronaut, but an astronomer. After all, how often does an astronaut get to go into space; an astronomer can gaze into the universe every night! I read every astronomy book I could get my hands on, but the one I remember most vividly is an oversized book called "Our Universe" by Roy A. Gallant. I´ve always remembered the name too.
"Our Universe" (see picture on left) was a colorful picture book produced by National Geographic which had this neat section in which each of the planets was featured on its own double page. All the vital stats were listed (distance from sun, number of satellites, etc.) and I committed these all to memory. Best of all, some wonderful artist drew vivid depictions of what the alien life on each planet might look like. I have a memory of jellyfish-like creatures living on Venus, or maybe it was Neptune. I just remember they were really cool.
The History Channel´s series "The Universe" isn´t nearly as cool as that; in fact, there´s not a single jellyfish-like creature even mentioned in all of Season One. Still, the series (not to be confused with PBS´ "The Elegant Universe") offers its own awe-inspiring view of life, the universe and everything all packaged into 45 minute episodes.
Each episode introduces its subject of the week ("Saturn: Lord of the Rings!") then covers as much ground as possible on the central topic. The series balances nifty computer graphics with brief snippets of interviews with a variety of scientists. Neal deGrasse Tyson is the most frequent guest; does this guy ever get any work done between all his TV appearances? The series is designed to keep cable viewers from clicking the remote, so the talking heads are never allowed to hold court for more than about 15-20 seconds before we race on to the next nifty graphics shot. As you might imagine, the coverage remains fairly superficial, but having said that, I suspect most viewers will learn quite a bit from each episode. A sense of humor helps to kindle viewer interest as well; the episode on the outer planets provides an amusing look at the faux-outrage over poor Pluto´s recent demotion from planet to "big old hunk of rock."
There are four discs in the boxed set, each with 3 or 4 episodes (14 total).
Disc One: Secrets of the Sun, Mars: The Red Planet, The End of the Earth: Deep Space Threats to our Planet, Jupiter: the Giant Planet
Disc Two: The Moon, Spaceship Earth, The Inner Planets: Mercury and Venus
Disc Three: Saturn: Lord of the Rings, Alien Galaxies, Life and Death of a Star, The Outer Planets
Disc Four: The Most Dangerous Place in the Universe, Search for ET, Beyond the Big Bang
The series sticks to the facts, though even with the realm of hard science, there is plenty of room for fanciful speculation. All of the episodes are engrossing, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be "Alien Galaxies," just because I know so little about our "neighboring" galaxies compared to all those facts about the solar system that I have long since memorized.
And on that subject, since when did Jupiter and Saturn get so many damned moons? I have to go back and re-memorize everything now. Or maybe I´ll just stick to my trusty well-worn copy of "Our Universe." If ain´t in the good book, I don´t need to know it.
-Chris Peterson, "Get a Life"
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronomer. Not an astronaut, but an astronomer. After all, how often does an astronaut get to go into space; an astronomer can gaze into the universe every night! I read every astronomy book I could get my hands on, but the one I remember most vividly is an oversized book called "Our Universe" by Roy A. Gallant. I´ve always remembered the name too.
"Our Universe" (see picture on left) was a colorful picture book produced by National Geographic which had this neat section in which each of the planets was featured on its own double page. All the vital stats were listed (distance from sun, number of satellites, etc.) and I committed these all to memory. Best of all, some wonderful artist drew vivid depictions of what the alien life on each planet might look like. I have a memory of jellyfish-like creatures living on Venus, or maybe it was Neptune. I just remember they were really cool.
The History Channel´s series "The Universe" isn´t nearly as cool as that; in fact, there´s not a single jellyfish-like creature even mentioned in all of Season One. Still, the series (not to be confused with PBS´ "The Elegant Universe") offers its own awe-inspiring view of life, the universe and everything all packaged into 45 minute episodes.
Each episode introduces its subject of the week ("Saturn: Lord of the Rings!") then covers as much ground as possible on the central topic. The series balances nifty computer graphics with brief snippets of interviews with a variety of scientists. Neal deGrasse Tyson is the most frequent guest; does this guy ever get any work done between all his TV appearances? The series is designed to keep cable viewers from clicking the remote, so the talking heads are never allowed to hold court for more than about 15-20 seconds before we race on to the next nifty graphics shot. As you might imagine, the coverage remains fairly superficial, but having said that, I suspect most viewers will learn quite a bit from each episode. A sense of humor helps to kindle viewer interest as well; the episode on the outer planets provides an amusing look at the faux-outrage over poor Pluto´s recent demotion from planet to "big old hunk of rock."
There are four discs in the boxed set, each with 3 or 4 episodes (14 total).
Disc One: Secrets of the Sun, Mars: The Red Planet, The End of the Earth: Deep Space Threats to our Planet, Jupiter: the Giant Planet
Disc Two: The Moon, Spaceship Earth, The Inner Planets: Mercury and Venus
Disc Three: Saturn: Lord of the Rings, Alien Galaxies, Life and Death of a Star, The Outer Planets
Disc Four: The Most Dangerous Place in the Universe, Search for ET, Beyond the Big Bang
The series sticks to the facts, though even with the realm of hard science, there is plenty of room for fanciful speculation. All of the episodes are engrossing, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be "Alien Galaxies," just because I know so little about our "neighboring" galaxies compared to all those facts about the solar system that I have long since memorized.
And on that subject, since when did Jupiter and Saturn get so many damned moons? I have to go back and re-memorize everything now. Or maybe I´ll just stick to my trusty well-worn copy of "Our Universe." If ain´t in the good book, I don´t need to know it.
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