Wonders of Our Solar System

Panzerbjorn said:
Am I the only one that can't stand Brian Cox?

He's a smarmy, condescending ****.

It's all well and good presenting a complex subject in a simple way for the masses to understand but don't rub it in peoples faces. His boyish drawl makes me think his voice never broke and what is with that stupid grin of his after everything he says.

It feels like Physics meets Playdays to me.

I'm getting more and more fed up with the BBC's dumbing down if it's factual entertainment.
After that ridiculous Horizon about infinity that was trying to be The Twilight Zone and now this, I'm starting to lose the will to live.
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I am ecstatic that I'm not the only one. His rictus grin and over-enthusiasm has been annoying my **** off for ages. Why is it that these programmes are just glorified nature shows: (show some interesting location on earth, talk about space, another earth location, another bit of space talk.)

Based on recommendations on this thread i tried to watch it. I lasted about 15 minutes.
 
ElvisFan said:
I am ecstatic that I'm not the only one. His rictus grin and over-enthusiasm has been annoying my **** off for ages. Why is it that these programmes are just glorified nature shows: (show some interesting location on earth, talk about space, another earth location, another bit of space talk.)

Based on recommendations on this thread i tried to watch it. I lasted about 15 minutes.
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maybe because they can't go to these exotic space locations?
 
You say he's overenthusiastic? So you'd prefer to have a man with a large beard and a dull voice talking about it with no emotion?

To be honest, if any subject deserves such enthusiasm it's Science. Forget what you learned at school, the study of everything is a beautiful concept in its own right.
 
Superewza said:
You say he's overenthusiastic? So you'd prefer to have a man with a large beard and a dull voice talking about it with no emotion?

To be honest, if any subject deserves such enthusiasm it's Science. Forget what you learned at school, the study of everything is a beautiful concept in its own right.
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I think it's a genuine honest enthusiam, so I have no problem with it at all...
 
It is VERY difficult to present astrophysics in a way that is understandable for the masses. The most effective way is often just stating the more simple facts and figures, possibly expanding on them a little. But the problem with astrophysics is that most of the numbers are so large its near impossible to visualise them, which prevents people from identifying with the topic.
 
Watching the first episode before catching the second - is there any chance anybody knows anything of the score used throughout the first? It's fantastic but I'm struggling to find anything.
 
I've never heard of this guy before, I love things on the universe and solar system etc, he seems like a good chap that explains things well.

I'm digging this series, this is my bag
 
I'm enjoying it, but why was the whole crew flown to the Sahara so he could draw some circles in the sand? Or Iceland so they could shoot with a geyser backdrop? :p :)

And I feel sooo small after watching these kind of things :(
 
Greenlizard0 said:
Anybody remember or have a link of the website that showed the scale of planets to our sun etc., but using balls. Then compared our sun to other stars.

Edit : found it : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Star-sizes.jpg
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Wow that is actually insane! Had no idea just quite how 'small' our Sun is!

Wiki said:
VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star (in the Milky Way)...

To illustrate, if Earth's Sun were replaced by VY Canis Majoris, its radius might extend beyond the orbit of Saturn (about 9 AU)...

If the Earth were to be represented by a sphere one centimeter in diameter, the Sun would be represented as a sphere with a diameter of 109 centimeters, at a distance of 117 meters. At these scales, VY Canis Majoris would have a diameter of approximately 2.3 kilometers, assuming the upper limit estimate of its radius.
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Wow.

Also to those slating the presenter, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you. Yes he can be childish (especially when he practically giggled at the geyser!) but it does seem genuine. I think he really is just one of those scientists who genuinely gets off on science. As has been mentioned previously, that enthusiasm is what is needed in schools to actually get kids interested. Treating science like it's boring, when actually it's incredible, doesn't help anyone!
 
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