dead Sir Patrick Moore

[Guest Dervesia73]

Thank you for praying for us while you were there. It sounds like quite the experience, and one that Ive pondered from time to time. I think I would have loved the silence.

[Youth in Asia 1,087]

October 2009 episode: The Great Observatories; NASA's space telescopes, namely Compton (named after the infamous suburb of Los Angeles), Chandra (after Ms. Sturrup, the Jamaican sprinting veteran), Hubble (the witches in the scottish play) and Spitzer (one of Satan's reindeer).

 

Sir Patrick began this month's show with a brief explanation of light itself, the electromagnetic spectrum and the reasons why he only lets us observe a small portion of it with our puny human eyes.

Joining him in the command bunker to discuss the yankee spy satellites telescopes were Prof Gerry Gilmore of Cambridge Uni, Prof Martin Barstow of Leicester Uni and Prof Chris Lintott. They gave a concise presentation detailing the reasons for, and the results of, the combined full-spectrum capability of these gadgets.

 

Pete Lawrence was in the garden again, guiding us around our northern-hemisphere Sky At Night for the benefit of amateur astronomers who want to see spiral galaxy M31. Don't we all?

 

Sir Patrick's outward appearance seems cast in stone, a portrait of vigorous octogenarian health.

 

I happened across this episode by chance on BBC World (I didn't realise they had normal programmes). It was indeed exactly as described here. I have to admit I couldn't quite understand what he was saying at times, but the three experts seemed not to suffer the same problem. The younger one (I think Lintott) looked like he is the "chosen one" or perhaps he polishes Sir P's monocle.

[Guest D.Daugh]

Thank you for praying for us while you were there. It sounds like quite the experience, and one that Ive pondered from time to time. I think I would have loved the silence.

[Monoclinic 39]

Thank you for praying for us while you were there. It sounds like quite the experience, and one that Ive pondered from time to time. I think I would have loved the silence.

 

Hello Peter Falk is that you Dervesia73?

[Star Crossed 33]

Thank you for praying for us while you were there. It sounds like quite the experience, and one that Ive pondered from time to time. I think I would have loved the silence.

Oddly enough, I did pray for you whilst I was there. It was quite an experience, and I'm sure you would have adored the silence; it exhibited significant congruence with the astrological theme of this thread. I look forward to hearing more from you. Or, more accurately, I anticipate hearing more from you.

[Magere Hein 1,400]

Thank you for praying for us while you were there. It sounds like quite the experience, and one that Ive pondered from time to time. I think I would have loved the silence.

Hello Peter Falk is that you Dervesia73?

Yes, he (or she) is. And possibly he (or she) is a Joey.

 

regards,

Hein

[Star Crossed 33]

November's episode, 'Lunar Impact' took an in-depth look at the work of LCROSS, NASA's lunar probe. Classic schoolboy science; smash something into something else and watch what happens. Essentially, they are looking for evidence of water ice at the lunar poles, in this case the south pole.

 

Chris Lintott clocked up more air miles on another California junket, whilst Sir Patrick knotted a hanky, rocked the Hawaaiian shirt and headed for the beach at Selsey with his chum Pete Lawrence and the doodle idiot from that annoying episode earlier in the year, whose name I forget.

 

I thought Sir Patrick looked in rude health. His pieces to camera, albeit brief as usual these days, showed him looking as vital as he's looked all year; speech clear as a bell except for one comment on the beach which eluded even my sensitive ears (I suspect he was talking about me).

 

The real beauty of this episode is the unbridled disappointment expressed by all as the lunar impact created... no discernable plume of dust/ice particles. "A technological success, but an unexpected scientific result" in Lintott's words. Even NASA couldn't detect a visible plume, just a small signature in the infra-red denoting the heat of the impact. The dénouement is that NASA did, apparently, get some good data; watch the news for a statement from NASA in the next few weeks!

[Star Crossed 33]

December's episode of TSAN is upon us. 'The Winter Sky'. Praise be!

 

The show kicked off with a brief tour of the solar system, through the lens of sundry current telescope/rover missions. Most entertaining! Good repartee between Sir P and Prof. Chris 'the anointed one' Lintott, including an ironic dig from Sir P about the quantity of water on the Moon. Double jab, left hook. Cracking show!

Initially, I thought Sir Patrick looked a little peaky, but I was heartened to be wrong. Lacking a little colour in the face, Sir Patrick? I prescribe a double ration of Pusser's. Or Mount Gay, whichever tickles your fancy

 

Tonight was the first time I've been able to watch Pete Lawrence's bit without being irritated by him. On the contrary, he gave a solid and insightful 5-minute presentation about what we can look for in the winter sky (northern hemisphere only, sorry honez), including the Geminids, which should be very visible on the night of 13th/14th December. Enjoy!

 

Prof. Bob Nichol talked about his SLOAN III project, basically a big digital camera (140 megapixels), which takes pictures of things, Nebulae etc. To be honest, I lost a little focus during this bit. The cheeky blighter even had the temerity to reply when asked about the future of his project "... we've got funding until 2014, so you'll just have to keep asking me back to talk about it as developments unfold ... ". Don't call us, Bob, we'll call you.

 

p.s. If you followed the link about the Geminids, please vote in their "Next Mega Disaster" poll, to be found on the right-hand side of the page. I wonder if they have a forum?

[Monoclinic 39]

December's episode of TSAN is upon us. 'The Winter Sky'. Praise be!

 

The show kicked off with a brief tour of the solar system, through the lens of sundry current telescope/rover missions. Most entertaining! Good repartee between Sir P and Prof. Chris 'the anointed one' Lintott, including an ironic dig from Sir P about the quantity of water on the Moon. Double jab, left hook. Cracking show!

Initially, I thought Sir Patrick looked a little peaky, but I was heartened to be wrong. Lacking a little colour in the face, Sir Patrick? I prescribe a double ration of Pusser's. Or Mount Gay, whichever tickles your fancy

 

Tonight was the first time I've been able to watch Pete Lawrence's bit without being irritated by him. On the contrary, he gave a solid and insightful 5-minute presentation about what we can look for in the winter sky (northern hemisphere only, sorry honez), including the Geminids, which should be very visible on the night of 13th/14th December. Enjoy!

 

Prof. Bob Nichol talked about his SLOAN III project, basically a big digital camera (140 megapixels), which takes pictures of things, Nebulae etc. To be honest, I lost a little focus during this bit. The cheeky blighter even had the temerity to reply when asked about the future of his project "... we've got funding until 2014, so you'll just have to keep asking me back to talk about it as developments unfold ... ". Don't call us, Bob, we'll call you.

 

p.s. If you followed the link about the Geminids, please vote in their "Next Mega Disaster" poll, to be found on the right-hand side of the page. I wonder if they have a forum?

 

Did he actually take it on his latest iNokia Phone and post it on youtube? If so I'd like to know which funding body!

 

Note to Farmer DDT. Is that the site I sent you ages ago for reasons I forget (I remember it being to do with some Armageddon or another and most probably a googlethon)?

[DevonDeathTrip 2,360]

December's episode of TSAN is upon us. 'The Winter Sky'. Praise be!

 

The show kicked off with a brief tour of the solar system, through the lens of sundry current telescope/rover missions. Most entertaining! Good repartee between Sir P and Prof. Chris 'the anointed one' Lintott, including an ironic dig from Sir P about the quantity of water on the Moon. Double jab, left hook. Cracking show!

Initially, I thought Sir Patrick looked a little peaky, but I was heartened to be wrong. Lacking a little colour in the face, Sir Patrick? I prescribe a double ration of Pusser's. Or Mount Gay, whichever tickles your fancy

 

Tonight was the first time I've been able to watch Pete Lawrence's bit without being irritated by him. On the contrary, he gave a solid and insightful 5-minute presentation about what we can look for in the winter sky (northern hemisphere only, sorry honez), including the Geminids, which should be very visible on the night of 13th/14th December. Enjoy!

 

Prof. Bob Nichol talked about his SLOAN III project, basically a big digital camera (140 megapixels), which takes pictures of things, Nebulae etc. To be honest, I lost a little focus during this bit. The cheeky blighter even had the temerity to reply when asked about the future of his project "... we've got funding until 2014, so you'll just have to keep asking me back to talk about it as developments unfold ... ". Don't call us, Bob, we'll call you.

 

p.s. If you followed the link about the Geminids, please vote in their "Next Mega Disaster" poll, to be found on the right-hand side of the page. I wonder if they have a forum?

 

Did he actually take it on his latest iNokia Phone and post it on youtube? If so I'd like to know which funding body!

 

Note to Farmer DDT. Is that the site I sent you ages ago for reasons I forget (I remember it being to do with some Armageddon or another and most probably a googlethon)?

 

Hello! I'm not an agricultural professional, but I presume you're referring to me...

 

Yes, that's the site. Did I ever tell you that I won a hundred tins of butter from those nice people to help myself prepare for the end of days? So now at least I can sleep well at night, knowing that if I should happen to survive the impending apocalpyse, then I can have an utterly butterly breakfast. They even gave me a free tin opener. The forum on that site is a bit on the"Montana Militia" side, if you get my drift.

 

Best stop waffling now, before SC starts convulsing and frothing at the mouth over this blatant off topic banter.

[Star Crossed 33]

Another glorious winter, another vibrant year of stargazing for our hero, the vigour of his endeavours propelling him to escape velocity from the gravitational yoke of the Deathlist!

 

January 2010's episode, "Twinkle, Twinkle...", saw John Mason and a group of amateurnomers gathering in Sir Patrick's garden to check out the cosmos with their respective equipment. Nick Howes handled Sir Patrick's 15-incher with some finesse to observe the finer details of M-45, the Pleiades. Which was nice.

 

Sir Patrick looked very well indeed, sans hat in the cool Selsey air (remarkable, bearing in mind the sub-zero cold snap currently embracing the UK). His ennuie was evident, however, as was mine, as his guest banged on about variable stars.

 

In conclusion, Sir Patrick wished you all a very happy, if belated, New Year.

 

As a footnote, after watching this episode I went out for a walk and did some stargazing of my own. It's -5C here tonight and with 10" of lovely crisp snow on the ground the place looks like heaven under the waning moon. Enjoy these small, free pleasures in life, my fellow DLers.

[maryportfuncity 10,662]

Fast approaching 87, despite the frail health. I was on his website today and noticed he provides a one-click link to donate to his beloved Cats Protection League. For that reason alone the man went up from his already lofty position in my estimation.

 

He is - apparently - contactable through said site. But - a serious question - if a person was trying to book Patrick for a pro-celebrity football match, charity bungee jump, cameo in a hard core porn flick or similar.......does anyone hereabouts know if he still has an agent?

[Lard Bazaar 3,800]

Fast approaching 87, despite the frail health. I was on his website today and noticed he provides a one-click link to donate to his beloved Cats Protection League. For that reason alone the man went up from his already lofty position in my estimation.

 

He is - apparently - contactable through said site. But - a serious question - if a person was trying to book Patrick for a pro-celebrity football match, charity bungee jump, cameo in a hard core porn flick or similar.......does anyone hereabouts know if he still has an agent?

 

O

 

M

 

G

 

I knew I recognised somebody in that lemonparty picture.

[Star Crossed 33]

Immortal scoff-law of entropy, titan of television Sir Patrick Moore bestows upon us the February 2010 episode.

 

A genuine tear-jerker for fans of all things space exploration. Will 'Spirit', the known universe's pluckiest little rover, survive for yet more adventures on Mars? Find out by watching The Spirit Of Mars on BBC iplayer.

 

Stunning images from Mars, interesting geology and real boffinthusiasm, but it's worth a watch if only for the curious prominence of a photo of Sir Patrick's cat on his desk; once I started noticing it, it became a real distraction. The photo shows the cat looking quite murderous, with startling green eyes.

 

Quote of the episode goes to Chris Lintott; "The rovers are, essentially, robot geologists". So, just geologists, then.

[Star Crossed 33]

A trippy intro to March 2010's episode, 'Life'... a stone, a lemon, Sir Patrick's cat! Even if you only watch one minute of this tiresome episode, make it the first minute, I implore you.

 

This ep deals with the biggest, oldest chestnuts of human thought... what is life? why is it? are we alone?

 

First up, Dr. Lewis Dartnell, an "Exobiologist"; scientific shorthand for "Lucky Funding Sponge". He's into "extremophiles", and describes his job as "hunting for aliens". Good for you, Lewis. Next!

 

Pete Lawrence and his young friend Paul Abel are now in the garden describing, with the help of some wacky special effects, how fast light goes, and what this means for astronomy. A total waste of 5 minutes of the show. Next!

 

Oh, Christ on a bike! Fucking SETI . This is the first time I've been tempted to switch off TSAN. It's not that I don't like SETI, it's just that I'm so bored of hearing about it. I once had a SETI screensaver but it drained CPU-time so had to go. I'm so sick of SETI. The only good thing about this segment is footage from 1965 of Dr. Frank Drake, initiator of the SETI programme, talking to Sir Patrick on TSAN. Lucky Lintott gets to talk face-to-face with Frank, still giving the same interview after 45 years. He explains the Drake Equation.

 

Next, a few classic snippets from episodes of yesteryear, followed by a clusterhump of sycophancy courtesy of Pete 'n' Paul coming in from the cold to discuss flying saucer design and close encounters of the banal kind. Wtf? Next!

 

Cosmologist Prof. Paul Davies, giving us the "the probability is not zero, but it may be infinitessimally small" routine, before detailing more mindblowing scenarios along the lines of Panspermia. Finally, someone talking sense. Thanks Paul, but what of my hopes of being abducted by sexy female aliens? No? Ok. Next!

 

Sir Patrick: "One is all we want"

Chris Lintott: "Just one."

 

One other planet with life on it, that is, to let us know the answer to that burning question; are we alone in the universe?

 

[Banshees Scream 110]

Cosmologist Prof. Paul Davies, giving us the "the probability is not zero, but it may be infinitessimally small" routine, before detailing more mindblowing scenarios along the lines of Panspermia. Finally, someone talking sense. Thanks Paul, but what of my hopes of being abducted by sexy female aliens? No? Ok. Next!

Well, The Panspermia theory is for dreamers. So why does uh "Cosmologist Paul Davies" talk about it then?

 

..

[Star Crossed 33]

April's episode was all about the Sun. In other words, there's not much going on in astronomy at the moment.

 

For some reason, Scotland has her own Astronomer Royal, Prof. John Brown. He was in the study talking about the Sun, as were other boffins, discussing the armada of spacecraft currently watching the Sun from various vantage points.

 

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a continuity blip when, during the interview, Sir Patrick's socks changed colour; most perplexing...

 

Lintott The Annointed One was nowhere to be seen, Pete Lawrence was in the garden showing off his hydrogen-specific refractor lens, with his annoying sidekick Moshe Abel obsequiously fawning beside him.

 

Speech a little slurred at times, but that's nothing new, partly a feature of his famously rapid speech pattern which has remained constant for 50 years; complexion as pink as it's been for a while, spirit untarnished and wit sharp, Sir Patrick looks in rude health. I shouldn't be surprised to see him chewing on an echidna's penis after parachuting into the Aussie jungle anytime soon.

[thefunkyfaz 51]

Did I really spot Patrick making a cameo on last week's Dr Who?

[Paul Bearer 6,119]

Did I really spot Patrick making a cameo on last week's Dr Who?

 

 

Yes!

[themaninblack 2,112]

Did I really spot Patrick making a cameo on last week's Dr Who?

 

 

Yes!

 

"watch him though, he's a devil."

 

 

[Star Crossed 33]

May 2010's episode, "Ring World" on BBC iPlayer.

 

Sir Patrick looks in great shape this month; he could be 10 years younger! Sharply dressed in dark suit, white shirt and, if I'm not mistaken, his Bomber Command tie, Sir Patrick keeps the British end up superbly, sticking it to the Hun* in a variety of bold, cunning and amusing ways.

 

He is entertained by astronomy's answer to Geddy Lee, Prof Michele Dougherty as she and Prof Carl Murray elucidate upon Saturn's ring system, its moons etc. etc.

 

Now, you know my views on telescope wizard Pete Lawrence and his apprentice warlock of the wailing wall, Paul Abel. Suffice to say they turn out the usual performance, tainting Sir Patrick's 15" reflector with their nocturnal love-in.

 

Where's Lintott?

 

 

*if the Hun in question were, in fact, someone uninitiated in the basics of Saturn.

[Gunjaman5000 32]

Happy birthday Star Crossed.

[Star Crossed 33]

June 2010, how time flies! 'Star Birth', the title of this month's TSAN...

 

The many star-forming areas of our galaxy are obscured by interstellar dust but Herschel, a new space telescope, can see these areas in infrared light. Which is satisfactory. Sir Patrick Moore is joined by Professor Derek Ward-Thompson and Dr Chris North to examine the latest stunning images from Herschel. Sir Patrick's cat, Ptolemy, steals the show with a display of things Star Crossed doesn't have the vocabulary to describe, having stolen most of this synopsis from the BBC site (edited, as it transpires, by a regular contributor to this forum) prior to having watched the show, as he has to be up early in the morning to feed the chipboard monkey saboteur squad.

 

Pete Lawrence shows what is on offer in the June sky, including clouds, sunshine and the occasional contrail, and comet C/2009 R1 McNaught, and Paul Abel searches for a comet - but will he find it? Am I bovvered? Face? Bovvered? If the US military could send a helicopter crew to gleefully strafe Sir Patrick's beloved 15" reflector whilst they were in there, it'd be worth the loss. And I'd forgive them shooting all those iraqi civilians in cold blood that wikileaked time.

 

Chris Lintott gives a report from NASA's Goddard Space Center, where he has been training for the first manned mission to Mars, speculated SC, not having seen the Chosen One on the show for some time.

Anyone seen Lintott? Call 1-800-CHOSEN1

997

[Star Crossed 33]

Let's not mention July, shall we?

 

August's episode of TSAN, 'Monster Star' sees Sir Patrick and the prodigal son grilling Dr Richard Parker on the nature of supermassive stars such as the charmingly-named R136a, a resident of the Tarantula nebula recently discovered by PaintShopPro users astronomers in the UK. Some of the statistics they churn out are delicious.

 

Sir Patrick looks in fine form, keen as mustard and razor-sharp.

 

Lawrence and his needless sidekick Abel sup lustily once more from the well of my patience, defiling my sensibilities as they gush over one of my personal favourites, the Perseid meteor shower (my favourite because it's never visible due to cloudy conditions here, so it remains intriguing and beguiling). The only good thing about this segment was the inclusion of a photo taken by one Dr Brian May, friend of the show, more famous as the guitarist in Queen, whose stunning performance in I Want It All, I'd turned off in order to watch the show. Coincidink!

 

The cat finally solves Fermat's annoying little problem, and then has a nap.

 

Next month, more discussion of Jupiter. More? Yes, more.

 

Importantly, everyone lives happily ever after. For now...

998

[John Kettley 49]

Let's not mention July, shall we?

 

I was going to step in for you and talk about water spouts and your common westerlies, virga, moist intrusions and how to measure a wet bulb depression, altocumuli and the 8'' Michael Fish promised to Moira Stuart back in January 1985.