Brian Cox - The Planets

[ReformedCharacter]

I don't watch much TV and I'm not normally a fan of Brian Cox but I've found The Planets completely fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the episode about Saturn and its moon Enceladus. All available on the iPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p ... sun-saturn

RC

[EssDeeAitch]

I really enjoyed it as well. Just attempting to understand the scale of the solar system is headache inducing. The ice geysers of Enceladus are so counterintuitive and fascinating.

Next set of books to be read will definatley be astronomical so if anyone has any recommendation.......

[kiloran]

.....and the lightning in Saturn's atmosphere creating soot particles from methane molecules, which clump together and are then crushed into diamonds by the pressure of the atmosphere, and then crushed further into liquid diamond raindrops. Spectacular, though I'd rather not be there to see it

--kiloran

[SalvorHardin]

I really enjoyed it as well. Just attempting to understand the scale of the solar system is headache inducing. The ice geysers of Enceladus are so counterintuitive and fascinating.

Next set of books to be read will definatley be astronomical so if anyone has any recommendation.......

The two set books for the Open University course "S283 Planetary Science and the Search for Life" are excellent (I did this course a few years ago - very interesting). The Solar System book contains a lot more geology than you might expect, especially about volcanoes. The Astrobiology book is very wide ranging and ends up with the search for life (CETI, SETI). Each book is currently £40.49 on Amazon.

"An Introduction to the Solar System", edited by David A. Rothery, Iain Gilmour and Mark A. Sephton

"An Introduction to Astrobiology", edited by David A. Rothery, Iain Gilmour and Mark A. Sephton

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-S ... 1108430848

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-A ... 110843083X

Here's the link for the Open University course. Pass this and the OU's Astronomy course (S282) and you get to put Cert APS after your name

http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifica ... tails/s283

[EssDeeAitch]

I really enjoyed it as well. Just attempting to understand the scale of the solar system is headache inducing. The ice geysers of Enceladus are so counterintuitive and fascinating.

Next set of books to be read will definatley be astronomical so if anyone has any recommendation.......

The two set books for the Open University course "S283 Planetary Science and the Search for Life" are excellent (I did this course a few years ago - very interesting). The Solar System book contains a lot more geology than you might expect, especially about volcanoes. The Astrobiology book is very wide ranging and ends up with the search for life (CETI, SETI). Each book is currently £40.49 on Amazon.

Many thanks for this, I will definitely look at the OU option as well