cjsmith: (Default)
cjsmith ([personal profile] cjsmith) wrote2005-10-09 11:17 pm

Ringworld!

Last night [livejournal.com profile] rfrench and I went to the De Anza Planetarium for their show about the Cassini/Huygens mission.

- I had forgotten how much fun it is to sit in a planetarium and watch the stars roll by.
- Wow, that guy had a BAD microphone. OK, I admit I would want a mike if I were him, but that one was so bad he'd have done better to holler. At least one oldster in the audience couldn't understand a word he'd said. I've seen this sort of thing from time to time at other events. A good mike and sound system doesn't have to cost big bucks, but somehow people keep putting up with poor audio equipment.
- The best part of the show was an animated graphic illustrating the path of Cassini/Huygens from launch to just past Jupiter. The calculations, planning, and accuracy required for this trajectory leave me in awe.
- The show was written about a year ago, so actual images from Cassini and Huygens were added at the end as a slide show. They were *impressive*. MMMMMMMMMMM space!

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-10-10 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes indeed. My microphone isn't top of the line by any means, but it's not crap either. I wonder if it's time to go evaluate a variety of them again. I haven't done any real comparisons since I first attended a caller school.