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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer speaks again!...

Fellow Chicago Astronomers...

For those of you who kept asking when the big day is...

The interview with CBS network news is a go and will take place tomorrow evening, the 15th of April, with the setting sun as a background and the night sky as my platform.

Thank you all who had sent in your advice and suggestions for the interview. With the new administrator now at the helm at NASA, and his desire to save the Hubble, it provides all of us a glimmer of hope, and offers more of a positive angle to the situation.

I'll post an account of the interview and the details on when we can all view it.

Nervous...me?, naw. Well, maybe a little bit...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

What a great night!...

My interview with CBS went well and it was quite an experience! I have been in interviews where it felt like a mugging...in & out. This interview was quite different and pleasant.

We started out at 7:00 pm, setting up on the lakefront side of the Adler. The winds were brisk and cold. The camera team of Tom and Tim were great, methodical and very patient with the session. I enjoyed working with them very much and appreciated their photgraphic art.

Here the crew sets up in order to catch the sunset and turquoise skies for the shot.

I was a bit nervous, I knew my subject, but the cold chill of the brisk winds kept me shivering....brrrr. I got miked up, got my marks set and was pleased on the professionalism of the team in getting the artificial lights just right, city scape against the sky perfect and made me look good... ;D They showed me on the monitor, and I did look quite good!

Here demonstrating telescopic features.

The crew was very detailed in the shoot. Close-ups, telescopic control manipulation, wide shots, skyline shots, question and answers. Being in such a busy location by the Adler, we had to stop from time to time to allow noisy vehicles and people pass by, and re- continue. We had to ask a Minnesota tour bus to leave the area due to their loud diesel engine overpowering the area. The bus had an odor of summer sausage!!

We re-did a few takes a number of times, and I had a hard time saying "Hubble Huggers" in response to the question of how I felt being called that. The cold was just shutting down my articulation and I was chilled standing there waiting for the set up takes. Yikes! My hands were numbing up and I tried to keep warm by rocking, but this was detrimental to the shoot. My rehearsed statements I had practiced went out with the wind. I was asked about what I thought of the New NASA administrator Dr. Mike Griffin, what the Hubble means to us, what my favorite Hubble shot is, what is the loss of the Hubble to astronomers, when I started out in astronomy and others.

But the shoot went on and I made some good sound bites, some so-so. But overall I was happy with the result. I always wish I could have done better with more force. But it was ok and I had a great time with the crew and enjoyed the experience.

I stopped by the Adler Terrace afterwards to say hello to the telescope operators for this Friday's AstroOvernight activity. It was much warmer up there than right by the lakes edge. Shared some stories and off I went to my next adventure by the lake.

During the closing moments of the shoot, a group of people who were smelt fishing came by to check out what was going on and desired to take a peek thru the scope. After the shoot, I reset up the scope and showed them Saturn, Jupiter and the half Moon. They enjoyed viewing the objects a great deal and invited me to join them in food, beer and conversation. I later learned that the fishing group were Iron Workers from the city and quite a cool group of people.

Here is Hector, Myself and Betsy engulfed in smoke from a barrel fire.

I had me some brews, some deep fried mushrooms and deviled eggs. They told me some great stories about their work and I really enjoyed their company.

I will let you all know when the piece airs on CBS Evening news. Should be soon. I also digitally recorded the event. I will review the content and see if it's good enough to show here.

It was a great night... ;D

[Centaur]

It sounds as though you had a good time. That's the way a competent TV crew should make you feel. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I'm looking forward to your piece on the evening news.

[stargazer]

Looks like you had a good time. Please let us know when it will air so we can watch it.

Becky

[Rocketman]

Cool! I'm sure you did well Joe. I'm glad it wasn't me. I'm a very nervous person when it comes to such. I hope to see it soon!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

CBS Airs the Chicago Astronomer

After some confusion of either a Sunday or Monday airing, the Hubble 15th Anniversary segment on the CBS Evening News aired Monday, 5:30 pm in Chicago.

My segment was the last news story, and it went well. Here are the first raw images of the interview piece...

And here is the on-line news piece from CBS News...

(CBS) The eye of the Hubble Space Telescope has opened up the universe, astounding and confounding in postcards from the edge of space and the dawn of time.

Hubble's science has pinpointed the age of the universe - almost 14 billion years - and proved the existence of massive black holes.

As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, it's the most powerful telescope ever, taking astronomers of all ages beyond the wildest dreams of Galileo.

Ask a kid to name a scientific instrument today, and "it will be Hubble," says Dr. Ed Weiler of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

"Hubble has entered the vernacular of the American public," says Weiler. "I hear commercials about health plans or something and they say, 'If this health plan were a telescope, it would be the Hubble.'"

But the Hubble is now in trouble. Its gyros and batteries need replacing, or the telescope will eventually die. The problem is NASA's nervous that a manned, in-space service call could be too dangerous.

After the shuttle Columbia's disaster, NASA nixed the idea of some future crew returning to fix Hubble. Hubble fans were outraged that the show would soon be over.

But next month, the shuttle returns to space for the first time since Columbia. If all goes well, the agency's new administrator Michael Griffin may reconsider servicing the Hubble.

"In light of what we learn after we return to flight, we should revisit the earlier decision," says Griffin.

That could keep Hubble adding to its spectacular portfolio into the next decade - a relief to stargazers like Joseph Guzman in Chicago. He's a self-styled "Hubble Hugger," desperate for the next shuttle mission to succeed.

"We got to get out the bugs, get out the kinks, and the second mission after this one in May should be a 'save-the-Hubble mission,'" says Guzman.

For 15 years, the Hubble's focused on the wonders of what's out there, and how it all began.

But now the mystery is the telescope's own future.

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/25/eveningnews/main690852.shtml

A great thank you goes out to Chicago Astronomer and fellow Adler Planetarium Telescope Operator Debra Pearl for the link!

I enjoyed this interview piece and am honored to have been selected to voice my opinion on the Hubble situation. Thanks to all who wrote in and for your support...it means a lot!

Signed autographs upon request...

[Rocketman]

I just saw the video! You didn't look nervous to me. You did good. They should have aired more of your thoughts though!


I've always wanted to go to Chicago. Maybe one day I can. Now I have a reason. Can I call you Hollywood Joe from now on? *Kidding*

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Grady,

Thanks for the kind words. Out of two hours of camera work, I got about seven seconds...and that's a lot for network news time! I am pleased. And to think a year ago...no one knew of the Chicago Astronomer! I am amazed!

If you ever find yourself arriving in Chicago, we will have a great time and round up the local members...or set up our equipment on their lawns until they come out...

Hollywood Joe it is... ;D

[Centaur]

You did a fine job, Joe, with your seven seconds of fame. The length of the soundbite was fairly normal. Just imagine what it's like every day for a crew that spends hours taping, but only having few if any words edited into a news package. I know, I've been on both sides of those cameras. Now let's hope that you saved the Hubble.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Hooray for doing a fine job and for saving the Hubble!!!!

[Rocketman]

If Hollywood Joe can't do it no one can.

[timothy]

Joe
I just tried the link. Did'nt get any video, but the audio worked fine. You sounded very confidentand professional.
Hubble Hugger, I like that.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Yea....I coundn't get video either. But fellow Chicago Astronomer Steve has recorded it in glorious digital, and will present me the whole segment on dvd and tape. I will then make it available when the Chicago Astronomer website is up and running...and the Fox interview one as well. I have some other ones too, radio spots I did a couple of years back, maybe I'll put them up as well.

My lips were just about numb around that time of the CBS sound bite, and I couldn't pronouce "Hubble Hugger" too well and articulation was on the way out.

I take Hubble Hugger as a compliment!... ;D