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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Special Invite to Preview the Revamped PBS Show "COSMOS"

04 March 2014

COSMOS, the renowned PBS show that Dr. Carl Sagan made famous, is coming back....and this time - with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at the helm.  All good Chicago Astronomers anticipate this new series,...and we have a special opportunity in Chicago to preview this a week early.

On Tuesday, 09 March 2014 at 6:00 pm - the Adler Planetarium will have a special showing of this fine exploration of cosmological mysteries and discoveries.  

But.... you have to register here:

Register for COSMOS


The regular airing of the show will be on March 9th....so this is your chance to get an advanced peek at the new show...and meet some Chicago Astronomers while you are at it.

But do it quick, as spaces are filling up quickly.


Hope to see my fellow Chicago Astronomer members and we can grab some pics together....


Do it now....you know you want to.

[Paulie pchris00]

I'll be there.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Excellent Paulie...!

I recommend all to make the trip down to the Adler and enjoy the ambience of Astronomers and Science on the 4th of March.

[-=CROMAN=-]

I signed up but didn't receive an email or anything. Should I still go?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Rich...

I received my confirmation by email.

Yes, you'll be with me.

Solid.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We are a solid go for the preview of the COSMOS show.

Some of you have contacted me about not receiving your confirmations. Perhaps they are all filled up and as I do not control the attendance, you can take your chance and go. If it's not too packed, I say they will allow it.

For those who are solidly in...see you there and we grab some pics together.

[Paulie pchris00]

I have two reservations, but only need one. First person to contact me can have my second pass.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer had a blast at the Preview of the COSMOS preview

04 March 2014

I don't think the Adler expected such a turn out....I sure did not.

Arriving on-site, I spied the satellite dish that was going to feed us the COSMOS signal parked outside...



As I approached the South Entrance of the Adler, the line was already out the door...and it was only just about 6:00 pm ! 




The line started outside, snaked through the lobby, curved around the locker area and continued down to the lower level...







I had Maria with me and Chicago Astronomer Stacia, fan with me.  By-passing the line, I met Chicago Astronomer and Adler Telescope Facilitator John in line and were pretty close to the front.   He arrived at 4:40 pm and already a line formed for this event.  We had a short wait and soon enough were seated in the 230 seat theater.   It was apparent that not all visitors would be able to participate.  The Adler did not have overflow seating in the other theaters of the building.  I would guess that about 500 people were present...many had to leave.

Before the start, I had fans of the Chicago Astronomer stop and say hi...




Michelle Nichols, (above), is one of my favorite staffers at the Adler and is now part of the Astronomy Dept....after a successful tenure in the Education Dept.

The theater filled with eager viewers quickly...





Chicago Astronomers Steve and Margie caught my attention from somewhere in the back...



Adler President, Dr. Michelle Larson welcomed the viewers before the start of the preview...



The show begins with a nod to Carl Sagan and his concept...of taking a personal journey of exploration...




...and Neil DeGrasse Tyson controls a space/time craft, taking us into a journey into the present, past and future of the Universe - exploring our neighborhood from near Earth, out through the solar system - diving into the Great Red spot on Jupiter and skimming the rings of Saturn - exiting our galaxy and eventually into the vast fabric of the Universe itself....








Bringing us to a point 13.8 billion years ago.

We come back to the Earth, billions of years ago....when it was coalescing from the debris of the accretion disk of the early solar system...




...pounded unmercifully from impacts...bringing elements to earth and stuff necessary for life to kick start...



Evolution runs it's course, eventually bringing amphibians to land...



But...

Millions of years prior, during the formation of the solar system and around the Oort cloud....one chunk of space rock interacted with another - nudging just a foot or so in it's orbit...for an encounter into the far future in our skies...



 
Clearing the way for humans to grab hold - by wiping out the dinosaurs.

The show continues to keep with the time aspect of Earth's existence by using a calendar representing a whole year with the Big bang on January 1st bringing us to the last second of the last month.  All we ever heard of our distant ancestors are but a fraction of that second.  All the wars, Kings, authors, gods and scientist... are just a blink in the whole cosmic calendar.

Mankind has always attempted to describe his environment...and now with the ability to record via drawings, writing and story telling...had starting the collection of stored knowledge of the time of the human...



Of course, man felt that he was the center of all....



But as science progressed, we lost our place...not only in the solar system, but in the galaxy and more.   Progression was not smooth and smart....but filled with resistance and ignorance...mainly with religion and the church.  An great example was with a Dominican Friar Giordano Bruno....who came up with outrageous concepts such as the stars in our sky are as our own Sun and an infinite Universe and possible Universes.  He made some of his discoveries in dreams, lifting up the veil and traveling to the far distant reaches of the cosmos in his mind...





As we all know, Bruno was burned at the stake for his beliefs, calling out the ignorance, power-centric and myopia of the church till his last breath.  (I like how they portrayed the accusers are demonic-like.) 

We are taken again in the Tyson spacecraft in this 1st episode, exploring and setting up for the future 12 episodes.  Tyson brings us back to present day Earth and provides a tribute to Carl Sagan and how as a teen, was invited to spend an afternoon together...and gave him a signed book, which he treasures to this day...




"To a future Astronomer"......Carl Sagan.





With that, the show ends to a great applause from the audience and we go directly into a panel discussion and question & answer session with those who worked on the show...including Brannon Braga from Star Trek and Seth McFarland...(no Stewie voices.)



Questions were taken from around the world...including from the Adler....all pre-recorded.   And a little bottle of airline booze was passed around on stage.



(There was one moment that brought down the house, when Tyson was answering a question about Steven Hawking's new theory of Black Holes and a quantum bubbling event horizon instead of a static solid one as we all theorized.  With that, we could be part of a Universe bubble...among an infinite number of Universe bubbles...within other bubbles.    And, Tyson was on an roll here.....that the Universe does not make just one of anything...that there are billions of Suns and planets...and if we base this as a fundamental, then there must be other lifeforms out there as well.  Why, as an example, do we have on Earth, creatures that exhibit survival characteristics of extreme conditions?   Radiation, heat, cold.....conditions that are prevalent on Mars for example....and transplanted on Earth via asteroidal impacts or comets.  And....if rocks containing the fundamentals of life  were blasted towards our planet...containing DNA, then reason states that pieces of Earth were also blasted outwards, possibly landing on the Moon, where conditions are such as to preserve the "fossils" for later discovery of early life on Earth.  And concluding that we we do find fossils on the Moon...and they do not have similar DNA to Earthbound life...then that's a more exciting discovery!....with Tyson being very animated as he explains this.  "We cannot be the sole creatures in the Universe and we are not alone."

With that, McFarland shouted out, "Now..... you just blew my F*****g mind!!!!"

The audience blew up with laughter and hoots...!

Another quote was that it's the adults that stop children from being scientists....stopping them from exploring and telling them to shut up.  Those in power and authority making the rules on the future of science are completely ignorant of field, including religion.

And...

I enjoyed the preview of the the new Reboot of COSMOS with very cool graphics, but I felt it came up short and dumbed down for the masses.  Even with the clunky graphics of 80's production, I thought the original was more educational and uplifting.  The rest of the nation will get to view the episode in a few days and perhaps we will get some feedback here from our members and visitors.

[John]

Hey Joe, it was great to see you & Maria (and so many of our friends) at the Cosmos event at the Adler. Thanks, as always, for chronicling the event.

You know, I'm a huge Carl Sagan fan. I thought the new Cosmos, & especially Anne Druyan (Sagan's widow), did a fine job of honoring Dr. Sagan. The panel discussion went off on tangents, and became a little self-serving for some members at times. I'm disappointed that the "questions" from the audience were written for them (at least, that's what I heard).

Although I do agree that the information presented was not as educational as that in the original series, I do think they're carrying on the mission of presenting science to the masses. If the high production values and great graphics can grab the attention of some who would otherwise not pay attention, I think the new series will do its job.  As for Dr. Tyson's comment about adults hindering children's scientific curiosity, I first read that in one of Carl Sagan's books (it might have even been Cosmos).  Dr. Tyson should have at least noted the reference to Sagan in his reply.

I urge everyone to read all of Carl Sagan's books.  Sagan championed the ideals of open mindedness and fierce skepticism, science as a way of life, and peacefulness and appreciation for all of the cosmos.  Hopefully, the new Cosmos series will do those ideals justice.   Don't look for another Carl Sagan, though - no one could do this like he did.

Isn't it great that we Chicago Astronomers also help to carry on science education in the same spirit of the greats, such as Dr. Sagan?   Joe, through your efforts as the Chicago Astronomer, you enable us to do much more of that then we otherwise would .  What an honor and privilege we have to do so.  Thanks Big Joe.