The Awe of Saturn

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When you get to the part where you approach the rings, where you start to go over the horizon of them and the plane of the ring goes across the entire breadth of your vision. I have had that feeling of profound awe many times. People have asked me, of all the places in your book, which one would you really want to go to? It's obviously Saturn, that's what I want to do.

Astronomer Phil Plait joins us to discuss his new book, Under Alien Skies, in which he describes what it would be like (through human eyes and real physical experiences) to actually travel to Saturn, Mars, asteroids, and distant stars. Also, we discuss the recent surge in UFO sighting as well as his famous talk at The Amazing Meeting more than a decade ago in which he asked all science communicators and critical thinkers to approach those who believe in pseudoscience with empathy and respect instead of scorn and vitriol. And, we run through the history of James Randi's popularization of the big-S Skeptic movement.

- Phil Plait’s Substack: https://badastronomy.substack.com/

- How Minds Change: www.davidmcraney.com/howmindschangehome

- David McRaney’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidmcraney

- YANSS Twitter: https://twitter.com/notsmartblog

- Show Notes: www.youarenotsosmart.com

- Newsletter: https://davidmcraney.substack.com