Tag: skyatnight

The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC.

The show had the same permanent presenter, Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date was a posthumous broadcast, which followed 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, 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 and Chris Lintott. Since December 2013 Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been a presenter. 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 and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

This episode:
Life on Earth depends on the sun for its light and its warmth. But the activity of our nearest star also poses a serious threat to all of us. In the most extreme cases, solar storms can send billions of tons of supercharged plasma hurtling at millions of miles per hour towards us, crippling our navigation and communication systems and damaging our power grids. In this episode of The Sky at Night, we uncover a danger that humanity is only just waking up to – space weather.

We begin our journey with the first scientifically recorded instance of extreme space weather. Chris Lintott meets the president of the Royal Astronomical Society, Professor Jim Wild. With privileged access to the society’s archives, Chris learns about the Carrington Event of 1859, when a massive solar storm caused aurorae as far south as the Caribbean and sparks to jump from telegraph wires, setting fires and electrocuting operators. Worryingly, if this were to hit us today, it could be a lot worse…

But to understand how space weather functions, we need to grasp how the matter spat out by the sun interacts with the Earth. Maggie Aderin drops into Warwick University to discover how Dr Ravindra Desai’s research is helping us do just that. From the magnetosphere, the vast protective bubble generated by our planet’s magnetic core, to the Van Allen Belts – dangerous layers of radiation trapped just above the Earth – Dr Desai is developing next-generation forecasting tools that will help to protect us from future risks.

At Imperial College London, Chris Lintott gets a peek inside a groundbreaking deep space mission that will revolutionise our ability to monitor the sun’s activity and forecast solar storms. Professor Jonathan Eastwood, the magnetometer instrument lead of Vigil, takes Chris through the satellite’s capabilities. Sat 150 million kms away from Earth, Vigil will monitor the sun’s surface as it rotates towards us, giving us an extra five days’ notice of hazardous activity and a chance to avert a crisis.

In Exeter, our guest presenter, Sophia Herod, is allowed inside a very special department at the Met Office’s HQ – one of only a handful of 24/7 space weather forecasting operations in the world. There, with the help of space weather expert Krista Hammond, Sophia discovers how the Met Office is keeping a beady eye on the sun, investing in the technologies of the future, and working with government and industry to protect vital infrastructure we all rely on. Ultimately, Sophia reveals that the UK is leading the way on space weather.

Although space weather can be scary stuff, we don’t need to live through a disaster movie. This episode tells the amazing story of scientific solutions to vast and intractable problems, and how teams of people dedicate their working lives to keeping us safe from the very worst that the sun can throw at us.

Links:
The Sky at Night

The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC.

The show had the same permanent presenter, Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date was a posthumous broadcast, which followed 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, 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 and Chris Lintott. Since December 2013 Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been a presenter. 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 and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

This episode:
It started 80 years ago with a field, army surplus, wartime radar and a visionary idea – and it changed how we see the universe forever. In this episode, we step inside the remarkable story of Jodrell Bank Observatory and its towering Lovell Telescope, an instrument that scientists have used to listen to the cosmos for almost 70 years. Taking us on this journey, Maggie Aderin meets research scientist Dr Emmanuel K Bempong-Manful to discover how the team he is in decide who gets time on the renowned Lovell Telescope, and what it can reveal. But connect this giant telescope with telescopes across the UK, and it becomes the headquarters of E-Merlin. That gives astronomers incredible resolution with which to view the universe in ways never seen before – delivering powerful results that deepen our understanding of how the cosmos works.

But how did this site become home to such an iconic scientific landmark, nestled in the Cheshire countryside? Professor Tim O’Brien takes Maggie on a tour of Jodrell Bank’s early history, from its beginnings as a botanist’s field, through the adaptation of wartime radar using army surplus, to the construction of what was, at the time, the world’s largest steerable radio telescope – an ambition many believed impossible. Driven by the vision of Bernard Lovell, the project ran dramatically over budget and needed a miracle to be completed – which arrived with the onset of the Cold War.

At the University of Manchester Library, Chris Lintott joins Professor Danielle George, GCHQ’s chief scientific adviser for national security, to examine previously top-secret files revealing Jodrell Bank’s role at the height of Cold War tensions. From tracking potential intercontinental missiles to listening in on the Soviet race to the moon, Chris uncovers the ingenious technologies and human stories playing out during one of the most perilous periods in modern history. Back at Jodrell Bank, the telescope’s constant watch on the sky continues. George Dransfield meets PhD student Phoebe Ryder, who is exploring how the Lovell’s extraordinary sensitivity can be adapted to study threats orbiting Earth – helping scientists anticipate potentially catastrophic collisions that could prevent any space launches – for years to come. Moving between past, present and future, this is a story of ambition, ingenuity and quiet vigilance – a reminder that some of the most important frontiers are explored not just by looking deeper into space, but by listening carefully to what the universe is telling us.

Links:
The Sky at Night

The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC.

The show had the same permanent presenter, Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date was a posthumous broadcast, which followed 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, 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 and Chris Lintott. Since December 2013 Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been a presenter. 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 and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

This episode:
Do aliens exist, and can we talk to them? What does a black hole sound like? Does the universe look like a doughnut? In a spectacular season finale, The Sky at Night teams up with hit podcast Curious Cases to answer your burning space mysteries, from the strange sounds of the
cosmos to the furthest edges of the observable universe.

Filmed in front of a live studio audience, presenters Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain bring their signature wit and curiosity as they quiz our stellar panel of experts – Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Chris Lintott and George Dransfield. Expect lively debate, surprising revelations, and moments of pure astronomical awe as they explore the weird and wonderful corners of space science.

Meanwhile, Pete Lawrence turns his eyes to the heavens to guide us through the incredible sights currently lighting up the night sky and offering a glimpse into the mysteries that unfold when we simply look up.

Adding another layer of intrigue, a special BBC Ideas animation explores our ongoing search for alien life and the tantalising possibility of making contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.

And for those who want to keep the curiosity flowing, Radio 4 are airing a companion episode of Curious Cases, featuring extra content from the live recording.

Join us for this unforgettable night of cosmic exploration before the programme returns in the spring of 2026 with even more wonders from the final frontier.

Do aliens exist, and can we talk to them? What does a black hole sound like? Does the universe look like a doughnut? In a spectacular season finale, The Sky at Night teams up with hit podcast Curious Cases to answer your burning space mysteries, from the strange sounds of the
cosmos to the furthest edges of the observable universe.

Filmed in front of a live studio audience, presenters Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain bring their signature wit and curiosity as they quiz our stellar panel of experts – Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Chris Lintott and George Dransfield. Expect lively debate, surprising revelations, and moments of pure astronomical awe as they explore the weird and wonderful corners of space science.

Meanwhile, Pete Lawrence turns his eyes to the heavens to guide us through the incredible sights currently lighting up the night sky and offering a glimpse into the mysteries that unfold when we simply look up.

Adding another layer of intrigue, a special BBC Ideas animation explores our ongoing search for alien life and the tantalising possibility of making contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.

And for those who want to keep the curiosity flowing, Radio 4 are airing a companion episode of Curious Cases, featuring extra content from the live recording.

Join us for this unforgettable night of cosmic exploration before the programme returns in the spring of 2026 with even more wonders from the final frontier.

Links:
The Sky at Night

The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC.

The show had the same permanent presenter, Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date was a posthumous broadcast, which followed 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, 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 and Chris Lintott. Since December 2013 Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been a presenter. 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 and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

This episode:
The team explores one of the greatest discoveries of modern astronomy – that our universe is expanding – and the new questions it raises about how the cosmos works.

In the 1920s, astronomers studying galaxies realised they were moving away from us, with the most distant ones receding the fastest. The
conclusion was revolutionary: space itself was stretching, and the universe was expanding in every direction. But once this discovery was made, a new challenge emerged – how fast is the universe expanding, and what could that tell us about its age, size and ultimate fate?

Chris Lintott travels to the University of Oxford to explore one of the most extraordinary tools astronomers use to answer these questions – the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the faint afterglow of the Big Bang. Working with Professor David Alonso, Chris learns how scientists use the CMB as a starting point for measuring cosmic expansion. He discovers how the Simons Observatory, a network of telescopes in Chile, is creating the sharpest map yet of this ancient light. These observations promise to refine our understanding of the expansion rate and may shed light on a long-standing puzzle known as the ‘Hubble tension’, where different measurements of expansion don’t agree.

Meanwhile, Maggie Aderin-Pocock investigates a different cosmic speedometer: supernovae, or exploding stars. Meeting Dr Philip Wiseman at the University of Southampton, she learns how type 1a supernovae, which shine with a predictable brightness, can be used to measure cosmic distances. A discovery in the 1990s revealed something astonishing – not only is the universe expanding, but the expansion is accelerating. The Vera Rubin Observatory, with its enormous mirror and world-record-breaking camera, is about to survey the southern skies, capturing supernovae in unprecedented numbers. With its data, astronomers hope to refine how fast the universe’s expansion has accelerated over billions of years.

George Dransfield takes on the most mysterious part of the story – dark energy. Coined to explain the force driving the acceleration, dark energy remains entirely unknown. At the University of Portsmouth, George meets Dr Seshadri Nadathur, who is part of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) project. By mapping tens of millions of galaxies across 11 billion years of cosmic history, DESI is building the largest 3D map of the universe ever made. This map is revealing subtle patterns in how galaxies are distributed, providing new insights into how fast the universe has expanded over time – and whether dark energy itself has changed throughout cosmic history. Together, these projects reveal both the power and the limits of our current models of cosmology. Different methods of measuring expansion don’t line up, and far from being a mistake, this mismatch may be a vital clue that new physics is waiting to be discovered.

As ever, Pete Lawrence is on hand with his guide to the skies this month, including how to catch Saturn’s rare ring and moon events, as well as highlights of the autumn equinox.

With cosmic clues building from the earliest light of the Big Bang to the faint glow of distant supernovae, the programme takes viewers on a journey through one of the most profound questions in science: how fast is our universe expanding, and what might that reveal about its past, present and future?

Links:
The Sky at Night

The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC.

The show had the same permanent presenter, Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date was a posthumous broadcast, which followed 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, 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 and Chris Lintott. Since December 2013 Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been a presenter. 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 and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

This episode:
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell is a discoverer and an explorer of the distant cosmos, and she has walked among the stars. She discovered the first pulsar in 1967 – a discovery so important in our understanding of the universe that it would earn a Nobel Prize. But Jocelyn didn’t receive it.

All her life a deep thinker, a dedicated Quaker and a fierce advocate for equal opportunity in physics, Jocelyn has carved an astonishing career doing and communicating science, changing the face of astronomy as a result.

Jocelyn was determined to succeed in an environment not made for her, and her story resonates with young and old, student and professor – and anyone who has ever felt like they may not really belong.

In this film, we hear Jocelyn’s story direct from the subject herself and learn how, from the small town of Lurgan in Northern Ireland, she rose to worldwide recognition. It is a tale of determination and triumph against the prejudice and misogyny of the time.

Alongside the history are the enigmas themselves: pulsars. The conditions surrounding these objects make them the most extreme laboratories in the cosmos, uniting the most complex and cutting-edge physics under one roof. Matter crushed down into its densest form, encased within extreme magnetic fields – and they are even telling us the secrets of the very make-up of our universe. Some flavours of these objects are so dramatic that just one outburst can briefly outshine an entire galaxy.

With Dr Vanessa Graber from Royal Holloway, University of London, Maggie delves into the concealed interiors of pulsars and the exotic states of matter that form them. With superfluids of neutrons hosting quantum tornados and searing hundred-million-degree plasma, pulsars are not the once-predictable characters we thought them.

Chris, meanwhile, is at the University of Oxford with Dr Kaustubh Rajwade, studying the oddballs of the pulsar family and how to decode their messages. As a blast of radiation travels from a pulsar to our detectors, the history of its journey through the universe is imprinted on the signal. We learn how to use this to see the unseen – the parts of the cosmos that are almost impossible for us to observe – revealing its detailed structure for the first time.

In conversation, Jocelyn joins PhD student Aida Seye to discuss shared passions and challenges in chasing cosmic dreams. Aida is a recipient of the Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund, instigated by Jocelyn to support PhD students from underrepresented groups. Aida is studying the structure of the Milky Way, with the aim of bringing us closer to solving the mystery of dark matter.

Links:
The Sky at Night