Listening Once Again to Amateur Astronomy Pioneer John Dobson

A reprise of our very popular conversation with the delightful 97-year old John Dobson, inventor of the Dobsonian telescope that brings the universe within everyone’s reach.  Emily Lakdawalla reports on plans for India’s first mission to Mars. Bill Nye the Science guy has survived the fiscal cliff, but planetary science is still teetering on the edge.  Bill’s voice on your answering machine is the new prize in the What’s Up space trivia contest! Bruce Betts and Mat Kaplan have the details.

Related Links

• John Dobson's Biography
• The Dobsonian Telescope
• India's Mars Orbiter Mission
• Save our (Planetary) Science!

Trivia Contest

This week's prize is Bill Nye the Science Guy's voice on your answering machine!

This week's question:
What song by what group begins with the lines, "We had a lot of luck on Venus.  We always had a ball on Mars?"

To submit your answer:
Send an email no later than Monday, January 14, at 2 pm Pacific time to [email protected] containing:

Last week's question:
Who was the third person planned to perform extravehicular activity (a spacewalk)?

Answer:
The answer will be revealed next week.

Question from the week before:
How many stars make up the Capella system?

Answer:
Four stars, in two binary pairs.