The author of one book, the bad astronomer, phil plait is also a regular contributor to many online publications, including the huffington post. The book was published in 2002 and deals with various misunderstandings about space and astronomy, such as sounds being audible in space a misconception because in the. Bad astronomer phil plait argues that asteroids are evil. Jun 29, 2012 phil plait mentally ill blogging atheist liars bad astronomy atheistz warz. Phil plait of bad astronomy fame has been a science 2. The show claims that 20% of americans have doubts that we went to the moon. Then the book moves on to things like astrology and the purported moon landing hoax. The gallup site has been rearranged, and though i can no longer find this quotation, it still jibes with. I had an opportunity to do that on august 9th this year, during a trip to boulder, colorado. Well,it looks like it really may have been an impact. Skeptics in the tub with phil plait internet archive. Phil plait is the bad astronomer who runs the internet site of that name. Astronomer phil plait has found a great niche for himself debunking bad science, specifically bad astronomy.
The chapters are laid out in a logical flow, with some fun narrative in between. Mar 01, 2002 for example, various false explanations to why the sky is blue are talked about. Phil plait is an astronomer, author, blogger, and skeptic. Astronomy picture of the day every day a new and amazing astronomy related picture is presented along with a professionally written description crammed full of links to more information bad astronomy blog phil plait s wellwritten and frequently updated blog discussing astronomy misconceptions, astronomy news, and science in general a leader in space astronomy. Bad astronomy is the work of phil plait, a good astronomer who used to work on the hubble space telescope, a device which started off bad but ended up good.
Misconceptions creep into the science of astronomy perhaps more than any other science. Besides new material on old bad astronomy, there is also quite a bit of new bad astronomy. Season 5 of the science channels series spaces deepest secrets has started up, and if you like astronomy documentaries youll see some familiar faces including my shiny pate. Four new doctor who audio dramas include one of the 9th doctors first. He combines wit and nononsense skepticism with the kind of creative reflex that makes fundamental science concepts understandable by virtually everyone who doesnt hate getting a little smarter. Join host phil plait and discover everything there is to know about the cosmos. I know they are fiction, so i try not to take them too seriously. I just got off the phone with phil plait ask me a question. Oct 27, 2008 caption we say it all the time here on astronomy cast. The book was published in 2002 and deals with various misunderstandings about space and astronomy, such as sounds being audible in space a misconception. I myself was banned from his forum bacause i wasnt posting enough messages there. Asapscience book by mitchell moffit, greg brown official. Celestron s free planetarium app is an astronomy suite that redefines how you experience the night sky.
Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read bad astronomy. Also, the 911 issue of skeptic magazine hits the stands, the why darwin matters lecture is now on dvd, and roy zimmerman. Plait began a career in public outreach and education with the bad astronomy website and blog, debunking bad science and popular misconceptions. The book bad astronomy was released in 2002, followed in 2008 by death from the skies. I am so behind on news stories that im going to ignore my usual rule of keeping this news from around the blogosphere chunk to only a few stories in order to play catchup over the next few days. Bad astronomy is actually plait s first book, and grew out of his blog by the same name where he debunked bad science and pseudoscience in the area of astronomy. If a little kid ever asks you just why the sky is blue, you look him or her right in the eye and say, its because of quantum effects involving rayleigh scattering combined with a lack of violet photon receptors in our retinae. Philip plait is an astronomer who also runs the excellent bad astronomy website. These range from his opening chapter on balancing eggs on the equinox to bad science in movies. He debunks myths and misconceptions about astronomy. A weekend of bad astronomy with phil plaits science getaways march 9, 2014 blogger phil plait bad astronomy and his wife marcella setter founded science getaways, unique vacations that bring together science enthusiasts and scientific experts.
In general, withholding hubble space telescope data is a bad thing. In 2008 he became the president of the james randi educational foundation, a nonprofit educational foundation dedicated to promoting critical thinking. Stephen maran, author of astronomy for dummies and editor of the astronomy and astrophysics encyclopedia thank the cosmos for the bundle of star stuff named philip plait, who is the world s leading consumer. Bad astronomy audio book now available discover magazine. Bad astronomy blog is devoted to airing out the myths and misconceptions. This particular issue is one near and dear to me, so please bear with me. My columns, and responses to critics are here and here. I am pleased to offer an interview with phil plait, the bad astronomer, on the release of his latest book, death from the skies. See the complete profile on linkedin and discover philips. Last week, the european space agency landed a space probe on a comet.
View philip plaits profile on linkedin, the worlds largest professional community. Blogs bad astronomy guiding skeptics to the universe what apollo means to me. The bad astronomer, author of bad astronomy and death from the skies. The bad astronomy blog is all about realworld science it covers the entire universe, from subatomic particles to the big bang itself. Phil plait mentally ill blogging atheist liars bad astronomy. When a person assumes the role of class clown, abdicating every principle of reasoned communication, theres something fitting in the kind of treatment that this video gives to phil plait and his ilk bad astronomy vs good science.
Death from the skies the science behind the end of the. Astronomy, space exploration, the effect of politics on science. Just how hard was it to detect gravitational waves. Plait s television show, phil plait s bad universe premiered on the discovery channel in september 2010. Misconceptions and misuses revealed, from astrology to the moon landing hoax kindle edition by plait, philip c download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. While it is primarily an astronomy blog, plait also posts about skepticism, pseudoscience, antiscience topics, with occasional personal and political posts. He writes the bad astronomy blog, which was recently chosen by as one of the best blogs of 2009. Aug 18, 20 an afternoon with phil plait, the bad astronomer former nasa man talks education, astronomy, and lots and lots of photons by richard chirgwin 18 aug 20 at 12. Elijah wood and his come to daddy director were terrified by the titular daddy offscreen, too. Interview with the bad astronomer, phil plait, about death from the skies. Interview with the bad astronomer, phil plait, about death.
Your eyepieces are the first accessories you should learn to use with your telescope. September 23, 2003 if you are coming from the astronomy picture of the day, welcome. Arrival is a terrific science fiction movie, and our own phil plait had an admittedly small influence on it. Philip plait clears up every misconception on astronomy and space you never knew you suffered from. There are chapters about ufos, astrology and creationism, why you cant see stars during the day, and why small meteorites are cold when they hit the ground, not hot. It makes me feel genuine sadness that, although i love astronomy, skepticism, and phil plait, this series may be unwatchable for me. I met and interviewed phil plait, aka the bad astronomer. Based on the popular book and website, bad astronomy offers a unique approach to learning about the cosmos. Has anybody else found phil plait the bad astronomer to be a complete wanker. Phil plait is behind the bad astronomy on slate, where he deconstructs misconceptions and explores the wonder of the universe. Phil plait about his revealing 2007 skepdude calendar photo. This book describes all the ways the earth could be destroyed, by the sun, by asteroids and so on. My first contact with phil s work on bad astronomy was after listening to him in skepticality, but i only started to follow his blog recently the following linked post is from his series of ten things you dont know about posts, this one bringing forth a lot of information i was not aware about our planet.
Join the bad astronomer phil plait as he takes a critical look at popular myths and misconceptions. Phil plait s top 10 astronomy pictures of 2008 the bad astronomer rocks man, admit it. Too cold, too hot, no air, supernovae exploding, galaxies colliding, black holes gobbling matter the universe is awful, said plait, the scientistturnedwriter known for his prolific bad astronomy blog of those, plait said, the deadliest threat to earth looks like a potato hurling through space. Phil starts the planetbyplanet tour of the solar system right here at home, earth. Apr 06, 2014 as part of national science week 20 in australia, dr katie mack university of melbourne and dr alan duffy swinburne university of technology headed to. A skeptic by nature, his first book, called unsurprisingly, bad astronomy attacks all those myths about the subject and thoroughly debunks them. The movies may not be bad, but sometimes the science is. For the past several years, astronomer phil plait has been battling these misconceptions, as well as the flood of just plain bad astronomy. At his popular bad astronomy web site, phil plait has long corrected misconceptions about the universe, skewered crackpots, and chastised the news media for purveying pseudoscience netwatch, 2 june 2000, p. This blog was also a finalist for the 2006 weblog award the bloggie. A lot of good speakers will be giving talks, including my friend jeffrey bennett.
The sonoma state university astronomer offers a daily dose of his insights and opinions at the yearold bad astronomy blog. A weekend of bad astronomy with phil plaits science getaways. Death from the skies is the entertaining book about how the universe is trying to kill you. The first part is about things like tides, eclipses. In short chapters, plait tackles misperceptions about why the moon looks larger on the horizon and why stars twinkle before moving. In march 2006, science magazine celebrated the bad astronomy website, praising plait s blog, begun in march 2005. This is not about just how much this ebook bad astronomy. Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news. Jan 12, 2015 phil plait writes slates bad astronomy blog and is an astronomer, public speaker, science evangelizer, and author of death from the skies. He formerly worked at the physics and astronomy department at sonoma state university. Is phil plait the bad astronomer a complete wanker.
Misconceptions and misuses revealed, from astrology to the moon landing hoax ebook written by philip c. Bad astronomy unveils the true and false of star trek. Along the way, he discusses questions such as why the moon looks bigger near the horizon, whether toilets swirl. Misconceptions and misuses revealed, from astrology to the moon landing hoax. The night sky strange new worlds with phil plait youtube. Where ill be doing things you can watch and listen to or read about. New black spot on jupiter bad astronomy discover magazine. If theres a silver lining in all this, it may be the fact that short attention span media may indeed be effective at capturing an audience that would otherwise not watch something educational.
The talk then branches off into a dissection of hollywood movies, using specific clips from wellknown movies. These guys answer the questions you had no idea were bugging you all your life. Phil plait still states apophis will miss the earth in 2036. Death from the skies these are the ways the world will. Philip plait, using the latest in astronomical knowledge, takes us on exciting journey through our universe and enlightens us on the various cosmological hazards that are present. Prepare to debunk pseudoscience headon with bad astronomy. A 1999 gallup poll showed it was more like 6%, a number which agrees with a poll taken in 1995 by timecnn. Many topics are covered, including the blue sky, white stars, pseudoscience, the moon, and astrology, among others. Smaller black spots have been found, and the shape of the big spot indicates a trajectory for the incoming bolide. Check out the last kruger park video, itll blow your mind. Long a debunker, phil of the bad astronomy web site was challenged on the apr 25, 2003 coast to coast radio show by george noory to debate nancy on the planet x issue. Its enjoyed a few printings since then, and still sells nicely. Escreveu dois livros, bad astronomy e death from the skies.
Celebrating his life is a great idea, and the folks at bccc have a full day planned the schedule is online in pdf and word formats. Phil plait, also known as the bad astronomer and author of the bad astronomy blog, asks the question, is the earth special. I didnt own a computer at the time and was doing the best i could. Surveys have found that even college graduates carry persistent misconceptions or even wildly incorrect ideas about the phases of the moon or the cause of the seasons. At the moment, i have no desire to tackle here such thorny topics as astrology, alternate views of the universe that are clearly in contradiction to observations, and the like. Still a favorite after five years and i update it when i can, this talk starts off with me standing an egg on end and discussing this legend and using it to talk about misconceptions in general. Misconceptions and misuses revealed, from astrology to the moon landing hoax is a nonfiction book by the american astronomer phil plait, also known as the bad astronomer. Sep 24, 20 phil plait, who goes by the name of the bad astronomer, has now written three articles in slate attacking two of my columns in the wall street journal on the topic of climate change. Plait is a born skeptic his blog regularly battles the misuses of science in daily life, in addition to praising the wonders of legitimate research. Phil harts 10 astounding astrophotos whats up with the name phil and astronomy top 10 amazing animal videos amazing. The bad astronomer is an astronomer and skeptic who runs the website. In july 2008, it moved to a new host, discover magazine.
On november 12, 2012, the bad astronomy blog moved to slate magazine. Phil plait thinks the universe is trying to kill us. It airs mondays at 10 check your local listings etc. We got some massive starcruiser hotel news and mandalorian spinoff speculation. The gallup site has been rearranged, and though i can no longer find this quotation, it still jibes with what is on the. The bad astronomy web pages are devoted to airing out myths and misconceptions in astronomy and related topics. The perverts like phil plait are wiping my posts at communities. Most of us strive to be good at what we do, but phil plait, who has a ph.
When a person assumes the role of class clown, abdicating every principle of reasoned communication, theres something fitting in the kind of treatment that this video gives to phil plait and his ilk. An afternoon with phil plait, the bad astronomer the register. Misconceptions and misuses revealed, from astrology to the moon landing hoax, by philip c. Phil plait writes slates bad astronomy blog and is an astronomer, public speaker, science evangelizer, and author of death from the skies. Phil plait to discuss his new book, death from the skies. Plait bad astronomy is phil plait s answer to dozens of myths and misconceptions people have about stars, the moon, the planets, meteorites, asteroids, comets, the universe, and the observers of all those things. Thats why i find a recent article posted on the bad astronomy blog at discover magazine to be endlessly interesting.
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