TV
Seeing in the Dark

Stargazing is the subject of "Seeing in the Dark," a 60-minute, high-definition documentary on amateur astronomy and the wonders of the night sky. The program returns to PBS with an HDTV broadcast on Wednesday, June 11, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. (check local listings). The film, Ferris' third, is based on his book, "Seeing in the Dark" (2002), named by The New York Times as one of the 10 best books of the year. The film interweaves themes of music, the stars, and the stark contrast between the brief span of human lifetimes and the vastness of the cosmos, where a backyard stargazer equipped with nothing more than binoculars can see light older than the human species. Ferris describes it as "an ongoing dialogue, down through the generations, about discovering the beauty of nature of the largest scale and learning more about our place in it all."

"Seeing in the Dark" was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Students and teachers have free access to the "Seeing in the Dark" Internet Telescope through the PBS Web site. They can register online, then send an e-mail specifying the object they would like to image. Over 100,000 objects lie within range of the telescope and its digital imaging chip, including star clusters and nebulae in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and thousands of galaxies beyond.

Visit the "Seeing in the Dark" Web site: http://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark.

Credit: Francis Kenny, ClockDrive Productions