When the astronomer Phil Plait goes outside on a clear night, he can’t help but look up at the stars. It’s a habit he wishes more people had. He also wishes the cosmos weren’t so misunderstood and the subject of such shaky science. Plait has made it his mission to educate people about the incredibly vast universe surrounding our tiny planet. He’ll join us to help explain the universe, dispel myths swirling around it and to detail the threats it poses to life as we know it. (Rebroadcast)
Phil Plait created and writes the Bad Astronomy blog on Slate.com. He is a former NASA scientist and he worked on the Hubble Space Telescope for 10 years. His two books are Death from the Skies!: The Science Behind the End of the World [Amazon/Indiebound] and Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing 'Hoax' [Amazon/Indiebound].