2010 British television series
Wonders of the Solar System
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Genre
| Documentary series
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Presented by
| Professor Brian Cox
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Music by
| Sheridan Tongue
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Country of origin
| United Kingdom
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Original language
| English
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No.
of series
| 1
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No.
of episodes
| 5
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Running time
| 60 minutes
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Network
| BBC Two
Science Channel
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Release
| 7 March
(
2010-03-07
)
?
4 April 2010
(
2010-04-04
)
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Wonders of the Solar System
is a 2010 television series co-produced by the
BBC
and
Science Channel
, and hosted by physicist
Brian Cox
.
Wonders of the Solar System
was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on
BBC Two
on 7 March 2010. The series comprises five episodes, each of which focuses on an aspect of the
Solar System
and features a 'wonder' relevant to the theme. The series was described as one of the most successful to appear on BBC Two in recent years.
[1]
An
accompanying book
with the same name was also published.
On 31 March 2011, the series won the prestigious
George Foster Peabody Award
for excellence in documentary film-making.
[2]
Episodes
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]
We live on a world of wonders. A place of astonishing beauty and complexity. We have vast oceans and incredible weather. Giant mountains and breath-taking landscapes.
If you think that this is all there is, that our planet exists in magnificent isolation, then you're wrong. We're part of a much wider ecosystem, that extends way beyond the top of our atmosphere.
As a physicist I'm fascinated by how the laws of nature that shaped all this, also shaped the worlds beyond our home planet.
I think we're living through the greatest age of discovery our civilisation has known. We've voyaged to the farthest reaches of the Solar System. We've photographed strange new worlds, stood in unfamiliar landscapes, tasted alien air.
?
- Professor Brian Cox
1. "Empire of the Sun"
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The first episode illustrates how the formation and behaviour of the
Sun
affects each planet in the
Solar System
. During this episode, Cox visits India to view and explain the workings of a total
solar eclipse
and the partial eclipses that occur on other planets. He travels to the
Iguazu Falls
to relate the causality between river levels, and
sunspot
fluctuations. An explanation of the Earth's exposure to the power of the Sun occurs in
Death Valley
, California, US, with an experiment inspired by
John Herschel
's
actinometer
. He also travels to Norway to observe and explain the defensive role of the Earth's
magnetosphere
against the Sun's
solar wind
and its role in forming the
Aurora Borealis
. Cox then relates the Voyager missions and their continuing exploration of the massive reach of the Sun's gravitational forces on objects in the
farthest regions
of the Solar System. Finally, in the clear skies of the
Atacama Desert
, at the
Paranal Observatory
he is able to observe, with the naked eye, the myriad of stars on the
Milky Way
and relates the meaning of their diverse colours as mapped on the
Hertzsprung?Russell diagram
.
2. "Order Out of Chaos"
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Cox starts this episode in
Al-Qayrawan
, Tunisia to analyse the orbit of the planets around the Sun, with details on how the 23-degree tilt of the Earth creates the seasonal weather patterns. He also visits the
Atlas Mountains
, and relates how in clear night skies the ancients observed the rotation of the stars and the
retrograde and prograde motion
of Mars and the other wandering
planets
. In Oklahoma, US, he discusses the universal reach of the
Coriolis effect
and the importance of the conservation of
angular momentum
. Next, at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
he examines how the
Cassini?Huygens
space-probe's imagery provides an insight on the highly complex structure of the ice
rings of Saturn
, and its diverse array of moons, and how they can reveal insights into the formation and evolution of the
Solar System
. He also explains how
Enceladus
, as the most reflective object in the known universe, has been of interest due to its
continental divide
-like canyons and geysers (as also observed in parts of
Iceland
). In the
Sahara Desert
the formative effect of winds on sand-dune morphology is paralleled to that of the gravitational effect of Saturn's 61 known moons on the matter that composite the rings - a phenomenon called
orbital resonance
.
3. "The Thin Blue Line"
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The third episode looks at the
atmosphere
of the planets and moons of the Solar System, with Earth,
Mars
, and
Venus
being the main focus. The episode starts with Cox travelling to South Africa and taking a journey in an
English Electric Lightning
up to an altitude of 18 kilometres where the "thinness and fragility" of the atmosphere could be observed in the middle of the day. This is then contrasted with the planet-wide consequences of Mercury's depleted, and Venus' broiling greenhouse atmospheres. Later, the dunal morphology of the
Namib Desert
is compared to what is known of the surface and depleted atmosphere of Mars, and is used to give an explanation of how the Earth maintains its temperature. Cox then explains how the damaging effect of the Sun's
solar wind
is deflected by the Earth's
magnetosphere
. Next, he discusses the transformative effect of weather on a planet's surface, such as the global dust-storms on Mars or the electrical-storms of Jupiter. The episode continues with an in-depth comparison of Saturn's largest moon,
Titan
, using data gained from the
Huygens
probe's
January 2005 descent down to the frigid
methane
surface of the moon. It ends with Cox comparing Earth's
hydrological cycle
with Titan's
methanological one
.
4. "Dead or Alive"
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The fourth episode begins at the
Grand Canyon
, Arizona, US, where Cox draws comparisons of the canyon to Mars and the massive
Valles Marineris
. A trip to
K?lauea
on
Hawaii
shows the constant geological activity of Earth, and again a comparison to Mars and the massive
Olympus Mons
is seen. Both comparisons are insightful in the sense that Earth's systems are still dynamic and active whereas Mars' have gradually slowed into inactivity. Cox then switches view closer to the Sun and the scorched greenhouse planet
Venus
, a planet often referred to as "Earth's twin", and compares it to the vulcan geology of the
Deccan Plateau
. An example of Earth's interconnectivity with the Solar System reveals that Jupiter's gravitational effect could potentially send an asteroid through the
Asteroid Belt
on a collision course with Earth, as evidenced by
Meteor Crater
. The same gravitational force is also shown to give the Jovian moon
Io
geological life (given the absence of meteor impact evidence there) as paralleled by the volcanism of
Erta Ale
in Ethiopia. All in all, with the universal laws of physics at play throughout the Solar System, its interconnectedness can also be seen.
5. "Aliens"
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The final installment covers life surviving in extreme environments, and how the search for life on other worlds follows the search for water. Cox begins by travelling to the deep ocean to draw comparisons between life in the hostile conditions of the deep seabed (on the submersible
DSV Alvin
) and the parallel potential of non-Earth life. The absence of life-sustaining water in the
Atacama Desert
in South America is also viewed, which is cited to explain the lack of even basic microbial life there. A trip to the
Scablands
in North-West America is also made, with an explanation of the
Missoula Floods
that once occurred there, and how the tell-tale signature of water shaped the landscape geologically. The
exploration of Mars
has revealed possible evidence of its subterranean
hydrology
, and a visit to the
Cueva de Villa Luz
in Mexico shows how simple life-forms (such as
archaea
and
snottites
) survive in hostile conditions beneath the Earth. Conversely, the hostile frozen topography of
Jupiter
's moon
Europa
also reveals the presence and effects of sub-surface water, and Cox visits a cave in
Vatnajokull
to find microbial
signs of life
beneath the ice. Cox concludes by stating that Europa represents the "most fascinating and important alien world we know. A true wonder of the
Solar System
because it's our best hope of finding
extraterrestrial life
."
Merchandise
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An accompanying hardcover book was released on 30 September 2010:
Cox, Brian (2010).
Wonders of the Solar System
.
HarperCollins
.
ISBN
978-0-00-738690-1
.
[3]
The region 1 DVD
[4]
and Blu-ray
[5]
discs were released on 7 September 2010. The region 2 DVD
[6]
and Blu-ray
[7]
discs of the series were released on 12 April 2010. The region 4 DVD
[8]
and Blu-ray
[9]
discs were released on 7 April 2011.
International broadcast
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- In Australia, this programme was aired by
SBS One
each Tuesday at 8:30pm from 1 March 2011.
[10]
- In Austria, this programme was aired by
ORF 2
each Thursday at 9:05pm from 8 September 2011 with the re-worked title,
Geheimnisse des Lebens
(
Secrets of Life
).
[11]
- In Iceland, this programme was aired by
RUV
each Monday at 8:10pm from 22 August 2011.
[12]
- In the Netherlands, this programme was aired by NTR on
Nederland 2
each Sunday at 6:50pm from 17 April 2011.
[13]
- In New Zealand, this programme was aired by
TVNZ 7
each Friday at 7:05pm from 15 April 2011.
[14]
- In Slovakia, this programme was aired on
STV1
each Tuesday at 8:15pm from 25 January 2011.
[15]
- In the United States, this programme was aired by
Science Channel
each Wednesday at 9pm E/P from 4 August 2010.
[16]
New series
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Brian Cox
from his Twitter account stated that there would be a second series,
Wonders of the Universe
, with the same crew and BBC science team. It was first broadcast on 6 March 2011 in the UK. The second series has a similar basis to series one, but features the
universe
. The new series consisted of four episodes as opposed to the previous five.
See also
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References
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External links
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