Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer has been a weekly public service "short subject" for some twenty years, though I just discovered it myself on the web. This tiny show specializes in naked eye astronomy, focusing each week on some notable sky event, such as Jupiter being visible just above the Moon in the southwest an hour after sunset on August 1 (the video shows easy to follow diagrams and instructions on what to look for and where). Some TV stations play the five minute version just before they go off the air at night (not a very convenient time for most of us), but now you can view the last 12 month's worth of videos (both one minute and five minute versions) on the web here, using RealPlayer. There's also a video podcast version - take the lesson right to the back yard on your iPod!Jack also has a some astronomy cartoons on line! Astronomy cartoons? How cool is that? (My daughter now has even more proof that I am a goober.) The picture above links to one from March 2006, "the rival of Mars and how the scorpion lost its claws." The web site has a useful FAQ that tells other ways to get access to the show, especially for teachers. Note that since Jack is based in Florida, he talks about northern hemisphere constellations and events - sorry southern hemispherians.
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