The Sky at Night

This article is about the BBC astronomy programme. For other uses, see Sky at Night (disambiguation).

The Sky at Night
Genre	Documentary
Presented by	Patrick Moore
Starring	Patrick Moore Chris Lintott Pete Lawrence Paul Abel Chris North
Theme music composer	Jean Sibelius
Opening theme	"At the Castle Gate"
Ending theme	"At the Castle Gate"
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	705
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One BBC Four
Original run	24 April 1957 (1957-04-24) – present (&1000000000000005400000054 years, &10000000000000319000000319 days)
External links
Website

The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.

The programme's opening and closing theme music is "At the Castle Gate", from the incidental music to Pelléas et Mélisande by Jean Sibelius, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

Content

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, especially when something less common, such as a comet or a meteor shower, is present.

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."

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, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Harold Spencer Jones, Martin Ryle, Bart Bok and Carl Sagan. Other guests have included Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees, Allan Chapman, Sir Bernard Lovell, Michael Bentine, Wernher von Braun, Open University professors John Zarnecki, Monica Grady, Edwin Maher and Colin Pillinger.

Many well-known astronauts have also featured on the programme, such as Piers Sellers, Eugene Cernan, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.

In July 2004, 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 over 54 years that Moore has not hosted the programme.

Brian May (of Queen fame), a Ph.D. in astrophysics, 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 which included the appearance of Jon Culshaw 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, Sir Patrick presented the 700th edition of the show, a special retrospective episode which included Jon Culshaw once again appearing as Moore's younger self, as well as Dr. Brian May and the first appearance on the show of Professor Brian Cox.

Commemorative honours

The International Astronomical Union celebrated the 50th anniversary of the show by naming 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, Patrick Moore is listed as the most prolific presenter in the world, having hosted all but one episode of the Sky at Night since 1957.

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 year of the first man on the moon.

See also

• Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer
• StarDate (radio), a daily syndicated radio show highlighting upcoming celestial events

External links

• The Sky at Night at BBC Programmes
• The Sky at Night at BBC Online
• The Sky at Night at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Sky at Night Magazine website
• 650th programme on 8 January 2007
• Review of the 50th anniversary programme on Freaky Trigger
• A video interview on Astrotalkuk.org on 20 August 2009