קיווערד Astronomer

Carl Sagan covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe.

Supernova is a British comedy series produced by Hartswood Films and jointly commissioned by the BBC in the UK and UKTV in Australia. It follows Dr Paul Hamilton, a Welsh astronomer, who leaves a dull academic post and unloved girlfriend for a new job at the Royal Australian Observatory, deep in the Australian outback. The comedy centres around his difficulties adjusting to life in the outback and his eccentric fellow astronomers. The first series was released in the United Kingdom and Australia in October 2005 and consisted of six 30-minute episodes. The second series began airing on 3 August 2006 in the UK. The exterior scenes were shot at Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia. The observatory itself is a CGI creation, according to the DVD commentary, and only a partial doorway was constructed on site for filming purposes.

The sun revolves around the earth - for more than 1500 years, this world view of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy was seen as an incontrovertible truth. It fit perfectly into the Christian worldview, in which the earth and God's creation were the center of the world. But in the Ptolemaic calendar, the date and the seasons diverged. The pope demanded a calendar reform. The astronomer and scholar Nicolaus Copernicus was also commissioned to do so. But Copernicus had long ago discovered something groundbreaking and revolutionary. Although it would set the calendar right, it threw the pious Christianity into a serious conflict: The earth revolves around the sun! A dangerous thought. Should he publicize his scientific calculations, or should he continue to hold to the Christian worldview?