On 3/14/2014 11:23 AM, Siegfried Jachmann wrote:
You have to consider that Cosmos is like our public star parties. It's public outreach. It will increase the interest and awareness of astronomy with the public. It's not meant to be Physics 101. I would have liked it better if it was at a higher level but as Chuck said, (par) it's better than 99% of the television it's competing against. Not better than a good book though.
I agree. The show was not meant to stimulate the considerable collective intellect of the members of SLAS, or any other astronomy oriented group. It was aimed at the viewers whom the producers thought might feel a pang of interest. Kinda like having a great view of Saturn in your scope and someone walks up, looks for 12 seconds, and says "that is nice" and just walks away when you are panting to describe the rings, etc. Just enjoy it for what it is, or as Patrick might say, Faux Astronomy. 73