What's in store for this week's Discovery Space Wrap Up: NASA's earth-like planet-hunting Kepler Telescope launches, China's Chang'e 1 spacecraft bites the moon dust, Stephen Colbert wants his own space station node.
Also of note is that I am working on a grotesque beard to ward off single women -- enjoy:
Discovery Channel's "UFOs Over Earth" series follows Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) investigations into reports of strange sightings and alien encounters. Discovery Space producer Dave Mosher interviews John Ventre, a MUFON investigator appearing on the show.
MUFON Guy (9:14 AM): Hi Dave, I'm on.
Dave on Earth (9:14 AM): Hey there -- strange, but I can't see you on my buddy list.
MUFON Guy (9:15 AM): I hit invisible.
Dave on Earth (9:15 AM): Ah, well there's our explanation. An unidentified typing object.
Jokes aside, you're appearing in a new Discovery Channel show called "UFOs over Earth." What did you do in the episode?
MUFON Guy (9:17 AM): Yes, I'm the Pennsylvania state director for MUFON and I helped conduct an investigation.
Dave on Earth (9:18 AM): MUFON... What is that ?
MUFON Guy (9:19 AM): The Mutual UFO Network. We have 3,000 members and 950 certified investigators.
We interview witnesses and conduct scientific investigations to explain their UFO sightings.
Dave on Earth (9:20 AM): UFO -- unidentified flying object -- sightings, correct?
I just hopped off an online interview with a director from MUFON -- the Mutual UFO Network -- and felt the need to say something about it.
Our interview, by the way, regards a mini-site I'm building for a Discovery Channel show called "UFOs Over Earth". As of right now the schedule is:
- The Bucks County Flap - Nov. 24 (Mon.) at 9:00 pm ET.
Re-runs: Dec. 13 (Sat.) at 10:00 pm ET and 2:00am ET
- Mass Sightings in Mexico - Nov. 24 (Mon.) at 10:00 pm ET
- The Fayetteville Incident - Re-runs: Dec. 13 (Sat.) at 9:00 pm ET and 1:00am ET)
TV schedules are fickle, however, so for the most up-to-date one click this here link.
At any rate, back to the chat...
"Large Hadron Collider? Large Hadron Collider. Large Hadron Collider..."
To those of you who gleaned a "Being John Malkovic" reference out of that: give yourself a gold star.
For the rest of you: sorry to put you through that.
Anywho, the planet is in a tizzy over this week's start-up of a mammoth machine in Geneva, Switzerland (and part of France): the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC. See here and here for other posts about it.
I like things short and sweet, so let's recap the LHC news in the past week or so:
Now I risk being put in Discovery Channel's timeout corner for this, but I'm happy to say I'm looking forward to another bit of LHC news: the History Channel's airing of "Next Big Bang" Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
As the narrator for the show points out in the symmtery breaking blog, there's a lot of stuff crammed into 60 minutes... But I shall remeain optimistic.
I'll try tweeting my reactions as I watch the show, so stay tuned here (look for the purple box at right) or go to my Disco_Dave Twitter feed directly.
If you collect nifty space stuff, then surely you know about collectSPACE.com.
But if you don't, know that it's not just a nerderific repository for info about space collectibles -- Robert Pearlman, the site's founder who wrote in to us about saving historic NASA launch pad bricks, also posts great articles.
Take this one, for example: A chat with the Mythbusters about their crazily awesome "Moon Hoax" special.*
The one-hour show airs Wednesday, Aug. 27 (tomorrow) at 9:00 p.m. ET, so be sure not to miss it! I'm a nerd, s you know I won't.
And if you want a full schedule of the show, bookmark this bad boy for the most up-to-date listings. Lest we forget, here's a link to the official Mythbusters fan site. And finally, a sneak preview of the show:
* Note: I couldn't secure an in-house interview with the cast about their work on this show -- so kudos to Robert for gettin' er done!
UPDATE: The show is now tonight -- August 27.
Photo: DCL
When We Left Earth may have blown us away in full HD TV, but yet another series bound to keep us planted on the couch is coming up: Space Week!
The Science Channel puts this smattering of spacey shows together each year, and, being a huge nerd, you know I'll be tuning in.
A chap named Otto Gessler (right) will be hosting the event, and you can read his bio here.
What you might not know is that Nick Scalera (who blogs for Is This A Good Idea?) helped put together a cool Web site to kick off the event, which you can find here.
It's got a Solar Symphony Game, where you test your reflexes with a not-so-scale model of the solar system (be sure to crank up the volume). Need to brush up on your lunar history? There's a great slideshow you can check out. There's a lot more fun stuff I'm not mentioning, so check out the site.
As for the shows you can catch during Space Week, here is a full schedule (I'm especially looking forward to the Moon Machines premier). So pick up your remote and tune in, from July 6 to July 11. You know the space geek inside you has been waiting all year for this...
Dr Ian O'Neill produces Discovery Space for the Discovery Channel. He is a solar physicist, but loves to write about manned space exploration and exposing the myths behind bad science. He can also be found ranting about space on Astroengine.com.
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