The Sky at Night
The BBC's long-running astronomy series, presented for many decades by Sir Patrick Moore.
- 1957-2026
- 70 seasons
- Documentary
The BBC's long-running astronomy series, presented for many decades by Sir Patrick Moore.
Season 15 Episode Guide
13 Episodes 1971
Episode 1
The Approach of Mars
Patrick Moore looks ahead to see what new information future Mariner spacecraft are likely to bring us from this puzzling world.
Episode 2
Things are Seldom What They Seem
Our view of the Universe is always out of date. We see the Moon as it was over a second ago, the Sun 81 minutes ago, and remote galaxies as they used to be in the distant past. Patrick Moore explains why we can never see the universe 'now'
Episode 3
Sirius, the Dog-Star
Patrick Moore and Dr. Vinicio Barocas discuss this star and its strange companion, a body so dense that one thimbleful of its material would weigh a ton.
Episode 4
A Black Hole in Space?
Patrick Moore discusses with Professor Samuel Tolansky a startling new theory about an 'invisible' star in the two-star system Epsilon Aurigae.
Episode 5
Jupiter: The Other Magnetic Planet
Only two planets are known to have magnetic fields: the Earth itself, and Jupiter the huge cold outer planet full of mysteries which have puzzled astronomers for centuries.
Episode 6
Orbiting Space-Stations
America's planned launching of a manned Skylab in 1973 are steps towards the establishment by the 1980's of permanent observatories outside of earth's atmosphere.
Episode 7
Tracking the Stars
A telescope must be moved continuously to follow the stars. Patrick Moore uses his own telescopes to show how this is achieved, and visits the observatories of Henry Brinton and Cmdr Henry Hatfield, RN.
Episode 8
How Far Are the Stars?
The nearest star - not counting our own sun, is 24,690 billion miles from us. Patrick Moore explains that, because the light of stars travel so far to reach us, we see many of them not as they are now but as they were centuries ago.
Episode 9
Mars Comes Close
Mars is at its closest to earth since 1956. American and Russian probes are on their way to map it and send back scientific data. Patrick discusses the ambitious Viking mission, now in planning to land a space craft on the planet in 1975.
Episode 10
The Life and Death of a Star
Stars look like simple points of light to the naked eye, but they have complicated lives, evolving from dust and gas and eventually aging into dense 'white dwarfs'. Patrick Moore discusses the stages of a star's life with Iain Nicolson.
Episode 11
Kepler: Genius and Mystic
The mathematician and astronomer Johann Kepler was born in 1571. Tonight Patrick Moore discusses with Colin Ronan the importance of Kepler's discoveries.
Episode 12
Target Mars
Three spacecraft should reach the red planet this month, the Russian Mars 2 and Mars 3 and the American Mariner 9. Patrick Moore shows the latest photographs from Mariner, and discusses these with Arthur Cross.
Episode 13
A Telescope Comes Home
A historic telescope recently returned from Herstmonceux to its original home on the roof of the old Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Patrick Moore talked to the Astronomer Royal, Sir Richard Woolley, about the telescope's history.