The Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Bad Astronomy Newsletter #2

Contents:

1. Update on TechTV appearance
2. Brief review of Pax TV interview
3. Astronomy Tidbit: APOD
4. Subscribe/Unsubscribe info

1) Update on TechTV appearance

As I mentioned in Issue #1, I will be on "Call for Help", a show on the channel "TechTV". The show is live, and will air at 2:00 Pacific time on Thursday, January 24. I'll be talking about the science in several movies now out on DVD including "Planet of the Apes", "The Mummy Returns", "Evolution" and "Space Cowboys". I will be cracking wise and being silly, so don't miss this opportunity to see me make a fool of myself. You can go to the "Call for Help" website. I have written a quick-and-dirty overview of the movies for their site and it will be posted there on Thursday.

2) Review of Pax TV interview

Also as mentioned in the last newsletter, I was interviewed for an upcoming episode of the Pax TV show "Encounters with the Unexplained". The interview went pretty well, despite breaking my boss's model of the lunar lander moments before we started (my wife came in an glued it back together). We covered topics like the lander not leaving a blast crater, radiation (and the lack thereof), lunar rocks and a few others. We didn't cover some big topics (like the heating and cooling issues of the astronauts, shadows, fill lighting, etc) so we'll see just how the show will cover them. I don't know when the show will air, but I'll let everyone know as soon as I find out. In the meantime, check out the show's website.

3) Astronomy Tidbit

If you have never been to the Astronomy Picture of the Day website, you are missing the BEST astronomy site on the web. Period. Every day, two astronomers post a beautiful astronomy picture with clearly written explanatory text. They give links to relevant info about the image too. The pictures are generally topical, they have a complete archive, and you can search for your favorite objects as well. Bookmark this one, folks. You'll go back to it over and over.

4) Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information

If, for some weird reason, you want to unsubscribe to this newsletter, just send email to badastronomy-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com with no body text. Make sure you send it from the address to which the newsletter is sent! Alternatively, you can unsubscribe from the Yahoo!Groups website. Go to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/groups-32.html for more info.

Remember, the newsletters will be archived on the website at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/badastronomy so even if you unsubscribe you can still read them there. I suggest staying subscribed so you get them as soon as I send them.

Also, I do not sell your email addresses and neither does Yahoo! Take a gander at the Yahoo!Groups privacy message if it makes you feel better: http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/ Note that the email addresses are visible to me, but I have no prurient use for them. If that makes you nervous for whatever reason, feel free to unsubscribe and simply read the archived newsletters at the website listed above.

Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
badastro@badastronomy.com
http://www.badastronomy.com