stargazing programme on bbc, is it in the rte mentality?

Hi all,
Just finished watching the bbc stargazing live program tonight, I found it entertaining and an interesting program to watch, a great way of promoting science and astronomy in general.
Do people out there ever think that rte could ever have it in themselves to do something similar, would they get it, or is beyond their comprehension, or is it something they could do easily.

I got to see some of it ,the main part , its good. In my opinion there is of course more than enough amateurs willing to do the same for an RTE or TV3 show. Last year I did some stargazing with my kids group and kinda gatecrashed it web wise even tho it is only 'officially' for UK folks. Anyone can upload images to the flickr group which may be shown on the show or on another BBC show. The IAA are taking part in tomorrows programme, it would be nice to be included down here in the south.

A show like it here would do wonders for the clubs in this country.

My euro's worth for now

Here is the webpage if people are not familiar www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00mlr20
Someone gave me a web link for a International Player so Irish folks could see BBC old shows but I can find the dam thing
anyone know about that ???

Deirdre Kelleghan
@skysketcher

I don't know what mechanisms RTE use to plan their schedule, but something tells me that if it is something that a certain percentage of Ireland's small population wouldn't be in to then it won't air. A shame really, I haven't figured out how this small island has so many awful television programmes and reality TV shows. But the ratings show why, yet we all still complain about the lack of proper educational and cultural programming on its schedule.

It would be a vey good tool for promoting the science-side of Ireland, there are, as you all know, a high number of astronomy, science and nature clubs in the country and some world-renowned institutions in Astronomy and Physics (Dunsink, NUIG, Armagh Observatory, Skull, DIAS, Kingsland in Roscommon, Birr, Blackrock, Markree (if developed) and more).

You'd think, Dave, it could be a no-brainer...

Seanie.

I was down at Queens University Jupiter Watch earlier, weather was very cooperative and a good crowd turned up.

Most of the general public queued to get a look through the 16 inch Lightbridge (preconceptions of bigger = better I assume) which meant there were a good number of other 'scopes with very short lines. BBC radio turned up and were talking to people (I may or may not have put in a sneaky jab at the met office people being right for a change). I brought a friend along too, she's new to astronomy so it was nice to see how she reacted to it all.


Anyhow, on to your points, Dave - if any of you have ever read the IAA's Stardust magazine you may remember a section called 'Dark Matters' where the author lamented how Stargazing Live 2011 was too much fluff. This struck me as odd in that I've never heard anyone who was not specifically interested in astronomy talk about The Sky at Night with enthusiasm (potentially due to it's somewhat off-peak airing?). In contrast, lots of people were talking about Astronomy Live; more than a few of them have had a look through my telescope since then after I mentioned that I dabble.
As a promoter of astronomy, Stargazing Live really works!

As for if RTE can do it; Ireland has a rich astronomy past and present, it's not as if they have a lack of source material.
I guess it comes down to if it could be made (excuse the term) 'sexy' enough. I think Brian Cox and Dara O'Briain exude the enthusiasm that engages the audience and any RTE presentation would need similar promoters.

If you wanted RTE to pick up on an astronomy series I would say you would probably have to spoon feed them a proposal and a have decent pilot episode.

But for a youtube show, that could be done straight away. you might even get a (very) few bob towards IFAS if you monetise the videos and the channel gets a few views. and of course if RTE see it growing then they might want to jump on the band wagon!

Graham

The Stargazing Live event in Derry on Saturday 14th went very well, there were literally hundreds of people who stopped at the marquee and had a look around the various tables, took leaflets and had a look at the telescopes. The solar scopes were particularly popular. A local radio presenter, Gerry Anderson, compered and there were guys from the BBC dressed as Star Wars characters. There was also a big screen showing live pictures from the event and various articles about different aspects of astronomy, as well as live pictures from the Faulkes telescope in Hawaii. On a personal note, it was a pleasure to meet up with Brendan (DonegalSkies) and we had a good chat.

Armagh Planetarium are running an event on Wednesday 18th, featuring a star show in the theatre about Aurora. They are now into their second extra show, the scheduled two booked out very quickly, as did the first extra show. They are expecting so many people that we will probably now have to put our telescopes in one of the car parks as there will be no room on the terrace at the front of the Planetarium.

There is no doubt that there is a big interest in astronomy amongst the general public. The three most common questions I got asked were "is there a local astronomy club in Derry/Donegal/the Northwest?, "why can't I see very much when I look at the night sky"? and "how much would a telescope like that cost to buy"?

I don't watch much television, but my wife would watch some RTE programmes on cable, What I have noticed is, no RTE programmes have subtitles available. I don't know if they are available down South, but they certainly aren't up here. So I would think RTE would need to get simple things like that sorted out first before trying to plan events like Stargazing Live.

The Stargazing Live programme last night was a vast improvement on last year's, being geared much more to the amateur astronomer. I think they have taken on board the criticism of last year's programmes on various internet astronomy forums and from their own feedback. I still don't see the point of having the reports from South Africa, as they are not particularly relevant to the ordinary "bloke in the street" (us), but the rest of it was pretty good.