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Author
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Topic: Astronomer Heather Couper (1949-2020)
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Kite
Member Posts: 842
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 02-19-2020 03:23 PM
  
Sad news today that astonomer and author Heather Couper has died aged seventy. A very enthusiastic speaker and will be a great loss. RIP. Dr. Couper appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter and The Sky At Night programmes, as well as presenting and producing acclaimed science documentaries.She also hosted radio series including the BBC World Service's long-running Seeing Stars and BBC Radio 4's Cosmic Quest and Starwatch. |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4184
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 02-19-2020 04:36 PM
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star51L
Member Posts: 347
From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-19-2020 05:07 PM
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dss65
Member Posts: 1160
From: Sandpoint, ID, USA
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 02-19-2020 05:47 PM
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randy
Member Posts: 2200
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 02-19-2020 06:24 PM
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capoetc
Member Posts: 2174
From: McKinney TX (USA)
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 02-19-2020 07:00 PM
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Panther494
Member Posts: 414
From: London UK
Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 02-19-2020 07:01 PM
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GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2499
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 02-19-2020 07:39 PM
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Kevin T. Randall
Member Posts: 1117
From: Chesham, Bucks UK
Registered: Dec 2008
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posted 02-20-2020 12:29 AM
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18blue78
Member Posts: 129
From: UK
Registered: Aug 2013
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posted 02-20-2020 03:38 AM
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minipci
Member Posts: 368
From: London, UK
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 02-20-2020 06:37 AM
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issman1
Member Posts: 1045
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 02-20-2020 08:30 AM
Very sad news. However, I remember reading a funny story Dr. Couper mentioned in a newspaper interview.Whilst making a British TV documentary about the sun in the Sahara Desert, back in the early 1990s, she suggested filming a short sequence with her unclothed. The idea — tenuously linked to the power of the sun — was rejected to her bemusement. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5972
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02-20-2020 08:50 AM
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nasamad
Member Posts: 2131
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 02-20-2020 10:31 AM
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Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3146
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 02-20-2020 11:07 AM
I was very sorry to hear this. I remember Heather reporting from JPL in the 1980s on the Voyager missions. She was fascinated by all things astronomical, had boundless enthusiasm and the ability to make it sound interesting even to any viewers who might not have been been as enthusiastic as she was. She was also a very attractive woman who no doubt boosted interest in space. Sad news indeed. |
David Carey
Member Posts: 796
From:
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 02-20-2020 12:28 PM
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SpaceCadet1983
Member Posts: 236
From: United States
Registered: May 2012
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posted 02-20-2020 02:33 PM
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trajan
Member Posts: 111
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2004
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posted 02-21-2020 07:20 AM
Very sad news. I met Heather at one of her lectures once, when I was a teenager. She was lovely, very kind, encouraging and good fun. I gave her a copy of a space magazine that I produced back then and she was kind enugh to take the trouble to write to me and say how much she'd enjoyed it. |
rjb1elec
Member Posts: 216
From: Merseyside, England
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 02-21-2020 11:10 AM
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Kite
Member Posts: 842
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 02-21-2020 02:51 PM
Further to my previous post, I first met Heather in the late '70s when she came to give a lecture to the Northampton Natural History Society, Astronomy section. She was great and invited a group of us to the Greenwich Observatory where she was working. We were hoping to observe through the large refractor telescope but our hopes were predictably dashed through the cloudy skies. So after showing us around she took us to a pub where we had a few drinks and a chat about astronomy and just about everything else, all with a good laugh. Over a lot years I watched her many times on television with admiration and then a few years ago noticed she was giving a joint talk at Leicester University with her great colleague Nigel Henbest. With a friend I attended and she was as bubbly and enthusiastic as ever. Afterwards I met her and explained of our previous meetings which she astonishingly seemed to recall. Heather, along with Nigel, then signed a couple of books for me and inscribed their superb 'The History of Astronomy' with "Good luck to the Northampton Astrosoc!" A lovely personality taken away from us far too soon and condolences to Nigel Henbest on losing his wonderful friend. |
AlanC
Member Posts: 152
From: Scotland
Registered: Nov 2014
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posted 02-21-2020 05:29 PM
Heather was a regular guest on BBC Saturday morning kid's TV back in the 80s and was very popular. Rest In Peace. |
trajan
Member Posts: 111
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2004
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posted 02-22-2020 03:30 PM
Well said, Kite and Alan C. Such a shame for us Brits that we have recently lost two space staples of Saturday morning TV in the 80s, in Heather and Tim Furniss. But I wil forever be grateful to both of them for furthering my interest in astronomy and spaceflight... |
spaceman
Member Posts: 1111
From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 02-22-2020 04:40 PM
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Norman.King
Member Posts: 377
From: Herne Bay, Kent, UK
Registered: Feb 2010
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posted 02-24-2020 12:30 PM
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apolloprojeckt
Member Posts: 1452
From: Arnhem, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2009
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posted 02-24-2020 12:53 PM
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Gilbert
Member Posts: 1334
From: Carrollton, GA USA
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 02-25-2020 07:35 AM
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LM1
Member Posts: 674
From: New York, NY
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-25-2020 05:25 PM
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alcyone
Member Posts: 135
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 02-27-2020 07:38 PM
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Spoon
Member Posts: 146
From: Cumbria, UK
Registered: May 2006
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posted 03-04-2020 12:33 AM
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