''The Sky at Night'' is a monthly documentary television programme on

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galax ...

produced by the

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. The show had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date was a posthumous broadcast, following Moore's death on 9 December 2012. This made it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history. Many early episodes are missing, either because the tapes were wiped or thrown out, or because the episode was broadcast live and never recorded in the first place. Beginning with the 3 February 2013 edition, the show was co-presented by

Lucie Green Lucinda "Lucie" May Green (born c. 1975) is a British science communicator and solar physicist. Green is a Professor of Physics and a Royal Society University Research Fellow (previously the Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow) at Mullard S ...

and Chris Lintott. Since December 2013

Maggie Aderin-Pocock Margaret Ebunoluwa Aderin-Pocock (; born 9 March 1968) is a British space scientist and science educator. She is an honorary research associate of University College London's Department of Physics and Astronomy. Since February 2014, she has co- ...

has also been a presenter.

Pete Lawrence Pete Lawrence is a conceptualist, social entrepreneur, recording artist, DJ, event organiser, music programmer writer and broadcaster based in the UK. Background Lawrence created the concept for The Big Chill in February 1994, originally as ...

has presented an observing section on the programme since 2004 as well as producing an online monthly online star Guide on the BBC Sky at Night webpage. The programme's opening and closing theme music is "At the Castle Gate", from the incidental music to '' Pelléas et Mélisande'', written in 1905 by Jean Sibelius, performed by the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

Content

The programme covers a wide range of general astronomical and space-related topics. Topics include stellar life cycles, radio astronomy, artificial satellites,

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can defo ...

s, neutron stars and many others. The programme also covers events happening in the night sky at the time of broadcast, such as a bright

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...

or a meteor shower, and recent developments in space and astronomy, such as the Rosetta space mission and the detection of phosphine in Venus' atmosphere. Explaining the show's enduring appeal, Moore said: "Astronomy's a fascinating subject. You look up... you can't help getting interested and it's there. We've tried to bring it to the people.. it's not me, it's the appeal of the subject."

Presenters

Notable guests

Many of the world's leading astronomers have appeared on the show through the years, including Harlow Shapley (the first to measure the size of the Milky Way galaxy), Fred Hoyle,

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on e ...

, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Samuel Tolansky,

Harold Spencer Jones Sir Harold Spencer Jones KBE FRS FRSE PRAS (29 March 1890 – 3 November 1960) was an English astronomer. He became renowned as an authority on positional astronomy and served as the tenth Astronomer Royal for 23 years. Although born "Jone ...

Martin Ryle Sir Martin Ryle (27 September 1918 – 14 October 1984) was an English radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems (see e.g. aperture synthesis) and used them for accurate location and imaging of weak radio sourc ...

, Richard Ellis,

Carlos Frenk Carlos Silvestre Frenk (born 27 October 1951) is a Mexican-British cosmologist and the Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics at Durham University.University of Durham Department of PhysicsResearch in the Department: Status and Outlook March ...

and

Bart Bok Bartholomeus Jan "Bart" Bok (April 28, 1906 – August 5, 1983) was a Dutch-American astronomer, teacher, and lecturer. He is best known for his work on the structure and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy, and for the discovery of Bok globules, ...

. Other guests have included

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The post ...

Sir

Martin Rees Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 23 June 1942) is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He is the fifteenth Astronomer Royal ...

Arnold Wolfendale Sir Arnold Whittaker Wolfendale FRS (25 June 1927 – 21 December 2020)GRO Register of Births: SEP 1927 6d 1198a RUGBY – Arnold W. Wolfendale, mmn = Hoyle''The Times'', 30 December 2020, p49 (Subscription required) was a British astronomer who ...

, Allan Chapman,

Sir Bernard Lovell Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell (31 August 19136 August 2012) was an English physicist and radio astronomer. He was the first director of Jodrell Bank Observatory, from 1945 to 1980. Early life and education Lovell was born at Oldland Com ...

, Michael Bentine, Wernher von Braun and Open University professors John Zarnecki, Monica Grady, Edwin Maher and Colin Pillinger. Many well-known astronauts have also appeared on the programme, such as

Piers Sellers Piers John Sellers (11 April 1955 – 23 December 2016) was a British-American meteorologist, NASA astronaut and Director of the Earth Science Division at NASA/GSFC. He was a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions. Sellers attended Cranbro ...

, Eugene Cernan,

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 Ap ...

and Neil Armstrong. In July 2004, Moore was unable to make the broadcast owing to a severe bout of salmonellosis. He was replaced for this one occasion by the cosmologist Chris Lintott of Oxford University, who had been co-presenting for several years. Moore returned for the August programme, this was the only occasion in the 55 years of Moore's tenure that he did not host the programme.

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury an ...

, the Queen guitarist and astrophysicist, has been a guest on the show from time to time. On 1 April 2007, Moore presented the 50th Anniversary edition of the show, a special "time travel" edition which included the appearance of

Jon Culshaw Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian and impressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedy '' Dead Ringers'' since 2000. Culshaw has voiced a number of characters for ITV shows including '' 2 ...

as Moore's younger self. The 50th anniversary programme was filmed at Teddington Studios as the 1957 home of the programme, Lime Grove Studios, had been demolished in 1992. On 6 March 2011, Moore presented the 700th edition of the show, a special retrospective episode which included

once again appearing as Moore's younger self, as well as Brian May.

Move to BBC Four

In September 2013 the BBC announced that the programme's future after December 2013 was under review, prompting speculation that the corporation would end it, and a petition asking for the show to be retained. On 29 October it was announced that the programme would continue, but would only be shown on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

, ending a 54-year run on the BBC's flagship channel.

Commemorative honours

The

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

celebrated the 50th anniversary of the show by naming an asteroid 57424 Caelumnoctu, the number referring to the first broadcast date and the name being Latin for "The Sky at Night". In February 2007, the Royal Mail issued a set of six astronomy stamps to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the programme. In the ''

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'', Patrick Moore is listed as the most prolific TV presenter in the world, having hosted all but one episode of the programme between 1957 and January 2013.

DVD release

A DVD of the special commemorative ''Sky at Night'' film ''Apollo 11: A Night to Remember'' was released on 6 July 2009 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first man on the Moon.

References

External links