Cosmos, The: A Beginner’s Guide

Synopsis

This double DVD contains six programmes from the BBC Two series presented by Adam Hart-Davis.

Programme 1 - Are we alone or is there other life out there? - We meet the alien hunters, who spend their time tracking down life in the Cosmos. Some of them are looking for incredibly primitive life really close at hand. And others are looking for something you could talk to.. Adam Hart-Davis presents this episode from the Allan Telescope Array (ATA), an impressive group of telescopes in the Mountains of Northern California, that are at the cutting edge in the search for intelligent life and Janet Sumner catches up with Dr Mark Sims and Dr Dave Cullen, who are developing brand new technology to detect life on Mars. Their ‘Life Markerchip’ gets its inspiration from an unusual source - a pregnancy testing kit!

Programme 2 - Building the Universe - This episode reveals all about the universe: how it, and everything in it, came into being and the huge new experiments currently being done to investigate it. Adam Hart-Davis presents from the biggest and most daring experiment of all - the Large Hadron Collider and Janet Sumner teams up with Dr Andy Kirk at UKAEA Fusion to see how you go about making a star and learns how artificial stars might one day save the planet.

Programme 3 - Seeing the Universe - Most of what we know about the universe, from its age to its size to how it began in a Big Bang, has been found out through telescopes. But how far out into space and back into time is it possible to see? In this episode Adam Hart-Davis travels to the Atacama Desert in Chile to visit the VLT - the Very Large Telescope. Perched on top of a flattened mountain some 2600 metres above sea level, the VLT is the best place on Earth from which to see the universe. Astronomer and Engineer Maggie Aderin finds out how amazing Hubble Space Telescope images are made, combining science and art. This programme also features reports on attempts to see the first light ever released in the universe, just after the Big Bang and how previously invisible objects are being seen with gravity.

Programme 4 - Space Exploration - The human race has harboured a deep fascination for the Cosmos for thousands of years. But the technology to escape the confines of our planet and explore the Solar System has only been with us for fifty years. In this great adventure we’ve sent probes to other worlds, inhabited space stations in Earth orbit and put men on the Moon. But what is happening at the cutting edge of space exploration now? In this programme Adam Hart-Davis reports from the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. It’s a hive of activity, with engineers working on all sorts of space hardware. Also featured in this programme are a group practising for a mission to the red planet, and a woman who wants to make it more like Earth by deliberately introducing a greenhouse effect. New ways of getting into space are explored, include an elevator direct into earth orbit. Find out what’s happened to Voyager, the most distant man-made object in the Universe. The programme also discusses the merits of manned versus unmanned space exploration with the Open University’s Dr. David Rothery.

Programme 5 - Violent Universe - At one time the ancients thought the sky was never-changing. Not any more. Adam Hart-Dvaies joins a team in Leicester tracking down the biggest bangs since the Big Bang. We discover that something huge is lurking at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way - a ‘super massive’ black hole. Closer to home, the violent nature of the sun is about to be revealed for the first time in 3D by a pair of new spacecraft, and Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock investigates the threat to Earth from an asteroid that might come our way in 2036. She is joined by a scientist planning the first attempt to deflect a real asteroid - something that could one day save the Earth.

Programme 6 - Other Worlds - Finding another Earth outside our solar system would be big news - but there are some surprising discoveries in our very own cosmic backyard. In this programme the team asks are there other Earth-like worlds in the cosmos? Adam Hart-Davis is on the island of La Palma, whose clear skies have made it a centre of the hunt for planets around distant stars - places where life in other solar systems might be found. Elsewhere, the rest of the team learn about other worlds closer to home - the amazing expedition to Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, two years ago is still yielding new results, find out more from Mark Leese at The Open University

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of production

2007

Notes

Broadcast in 6 weekly parts on BBC2 beginning 7/8/2007

Subjects

Astronomy

Keywords

big bang theory; cosmology; space exploration; extraterrestrial life

Online availability

URI

http://www.ouwcb.co.uk/viewerdefault.asp?CompID=12330&Baudrate=0

Price

£34.99

Delivery

Streamed/Download

Credits

Contributor

Adam Hart-Davis

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£39.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

180 minutes

Year

2007

Production Company

Name

Open University

Distributor

Name

Open University Worldwide

Web

http://www.ouw.co.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

+44 (0) 1908 274066

Address

Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA

Notes

NB. As of May 2016 Open University Worldwide are no longer distributing DVDs. They have posted this message on their website: ‘Unfortunately Open University Worldwide Limited has decided that product sales are no longer viable given the reduced funding to Higher Education institutions and diminishing demand for the products we have traditionally stocked. At present the Open University Students Association (OUSA) will continue to sell the "Good Study Guide", and we are in discussion with other possible distributors to continue to make The Open University’s products available for purchase. As soon as we have any information on other channels of distribution we will update this notice’. Some products are still available via second hand dealers on Amazon.co.uk

Online Retailer

Name

Open University Bespoke DVD - Clips & Bits

Web

http://www.ouwcb.co.uk/index.html External site opens in new window