The Sky at Night
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The Sky at Night is a monthly television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. From its first airing on 24 April 1957, it is the longest running television programme with the same presenter, Sir Patrick Moore. The programme's stirring initial and closing theme music is At the Castle Gate from the incidental music to Pelléas et Mélisande by Jean Sibelius.
The programme covers a wide range of general astronomical and space related topics. In the past, general topics have included stellar life cycles, radio astronomy, artificial satellites, black holes, neutron stars and many others. The programme also covers what is happening in the night sky at the time it is being broadcast. This can be particularly interesting when something less common, such as a comet or a meteor shower, is present.
[edit] Notable guests
In July 2004, Patrick Moore was unable to make the broadcast due to a severe bout of Salmonellosis. He was replaced for this one occasion by the cosmologist Chris Lintott of Oxford University, but returned for the August programme. This is the only occasion in 50 years that Moore has not hosted the programme.
Brian May (of Queen fame), a keen amateur astronomer, is a guest on the show from time to time.
On 1 April 2007, Sir Patrick presented the 50th Anniversary edition of the show, a special "time travel" edition.
[edit] External links
- The Sky at Night website Including a selection of previous programmes.
- 650th programme on 8th January 2007
- review of the 50th anniversary programme on Freaky Trigger
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