Comets and asteroids are the building blocks of the planets, relics from the early days of the solar system. They have been witnessed in our skies for millennia – tantalising, yet too small and too distant to study. However, over the course of the past 60 years, developments in astronomy and space exploration have allowed scientists to now see these tiny, mysterious worlds up close – and the Sky at Night has been there every step of the way.
Using the Sky at Night archives, Maggie Aderin-Pocock takes us on a journey in pursuit of comets and asteroids – from ancient history to the cutting edge of modern astronomy, from tales of omens seen in our skies to exhilarating space missions straight out of science fiction.
Unlike planets and moons, we only get fleeting glimpses of comets and asteroids. It’s that rarity that makes these visitors so special. Who knows what the next one will bring us?
For as long as humans have walked the Earth, the stars have fascinated us. But we have come a long way since the earliest days of astronomy when we had nothing but our eyes to observe the night sky. Since then we have designed an arsenal of ingenious machines to help us unlock the secrets of the stars – from how they work and move around the Universe to how they live and die. For more than 60 years, the Sky at Night has covered every major development in our understanding of the stars, and regular Sky at Night presenter, Professor Chris Lintott, uses this archive to reveal spectacular and surprising facts about these heavenly bodies. From the ancient myths of the constellations to today's cutting edge attempts to map our own Milky Way, this is a story of incredible ingenuity, extraordinary technology and spectacular discoveries. We will discover how stars work, from the nuclear reactions at their cores to the strange phenomena on their surfaces, and we will follow the life cycle of a star all the way through to its spectacular end – one of the most dramatic events in the Universe that also turns out to hold the key to our very existence.
A one-hour special in which The Sky at Night team face a live studio audience to answer their questions about the mysteries and wonders of the universe.
Astronomers have found more than 4,000 planets circling stars other than our own. What do we know about these alien worlds and how have we managed to detect them?
The programme goes behind the scenes as the European Space Agency selects its next mission, which will be launched in 2028, meeting British teams vying to have their ideas selected, including a revolutionary mission to a comet.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission to put a man on the moon, The Sky at Night looks back through the archives to tell the story of how the BBC reported the moonshot, with some very special guests. Scientist John Zarneki discusses the huge scientific and engineering challenge. The first British astronaut, Helen Sharman, reveals just how accurate the predictions and preparations for life in space were. And writer and broadcaster James Burke – who reported the whole amazing story at the time – explains why Nasa loved the BBC and how he gained access to the command module for an episode of Tomorrow’s World.
In the first of two programmes to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landings, the Sky at Night team take a look at the latest plans to return to the Moon. Recently, China, Israel and India have all sent major missions to the Moon. The Europeans and Americans are planning to build a space station in permanent orbit around the Moon. And NASA has just announced that they plan to land astronauts on the Moon’s surface within five years. It all suggests that we are on the verge of a new golden age in lunar exploration.
The team reveals how the first picture of a supermassive black hole was captured. The photograph of the hole at the heart of the M87 galaxy was released in April.
This edition comes from the heart of one of the most influential – and surprising – organisations in the history of astronomy. Maggie and Chris have been granted rare access to the Vatican and its little-known observatory, the Specola Vaticana, perched on a hilltop 30km outside Rome. — There they explore its rich history and contemporary cutting-edge science, going inside the Vatican walls to visit the Tower of the Winds, a secret antique sundial that revolutionised the length of the year; the remains of a nest of telescopes atop an old medieval church where the science of spectroscopy was born; and the modern labs, manned by priest scientists who study a range of contemporary astronomical problems, from meteorites to binary stars to the birth of the universe itself.
When the first episode of The Sky at Night was transmitted in April 1957, it was still thought that Mars could be home to advanced life, the Space Age was yet to begin, and the Big Bang was just a controversial theory. So to celebrate its 60th anniversary, this special programme looks at how our knowledge of the universe has been transformed in the last six decades – from the exploration of the solar system to the detection of black holes and planets orbiting distant stars. Featuring contributions from Jim Al-Khalili, Dallas Campbell and Monica Grady and including special birthday messages from a host of stars, this is a celebration of an extraordinary age of discovery, and The Sky at Night's role in covering it.