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Star Gazer Lives On

-- | January 19, 2014

Hi Folks,

Through a very interesting article in the latest edition of Astronomy Beat, produced by my colleagues at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), I was re-introduced to a wonderful little PBS-produced television show called “Star Gazers”. These 5-ish minute episodes describing celestial events viewable by backyard astronomers were hosted by a guy named Jack Horkheimer from 1976 through 2010. Jack obtained a kind of cult following for these Star Gazer (actually, it was originally titled “Star Hustler”) episodes by his lovably eccentric yet comfortable style of describing the astronomy happening over our heads. Jack’s episodes are posted to YouTube (like most everything else), so you can get a sample of those classic shows.

The modern version of Star Gazers (note the subtle change in the title from its predecessor, as there are now three hosts for this show) is fantastic! I highly recommend it for those interested in finding out what astronomical events are taking place each week. You don’t need to be a degree-carrying scientist to understand the information presented in these episodes either. It is definitely a good use of five minutes each week!

Jeff Mangum

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