The Sky at Night Season 45, Episode 9: Great Balls of Fire

Genesis - Earth and Moon

As a new millennium begins we take a look at how our Earth and Moon came to be. Patrick Moore is joined by Professor Chris Kitchin to discuss how distant planets of other suns, ancient meteorites, and devastating collisions between worlds give us clues as to how the Earth and Moon grew from billions of dust grains, each too small to see.

Cassini: Next Stop Saturn

On December 30 2000, the Cassini-Huygens space probe sailed past Jupiter, its last fly-by before arriving at Saturn and its moon, Titan, in 2004. Patrick Moore is joined by Dr John Zarnecki to discuss the latest news from this deep-space mission.

A New View of Mars

For the last two years, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor has been sending back exciting new pictures of the red planet. The spacecraft has now collected more information about Mars than all previous missions combined. Patrick Moore is joined by Dr Peter Cattermole to discuss the latest views of our neighbouring planet and where to find Mars in the night sky as it approaches its opposition - a biannual opportunity to observe it at its best.

Pictures from the Red Planet

Meet the Neighbours

Could life exist elsewhere in our Solar System? This question has long been asked, but our understanding of our cosmic neighbourhood is constantly changing. Patrick Moore is joined by Dr Monica Grady to discuss the latest views on how life originates, where it might exist, and what it might look like.

Eye Spy...

Patrick Moore visits one of the UK's newest and most exciting observatories, The Crendon Observatory, where Gordon Rogers demonstrates how he produces amazing deep-sky images of distant galaxies and nebulae.

Our Star

The Sun has been in the news again, it is at the peak of its 11 year cycle of activity and there have been large solar flares, many sunspots and good displays of aurorae. It has also been eclipsed by the Moon for the first time since the great UK eclipse of 1999. Patrick Moore is joined by Chris Lintott to discuss the Sun, its variability and to look back at some of the eclipses The Sky at Night has seen.

Crash and Burn

The Earth is constantly bombarded by small fragments of space debris, but somewhere in the Solar System a sizeable asteroid or comet is probably on a collision course with Earth. We don't know where or when the impact will happen but it may prove catastrophic for life on Earth. In the first of two programmes on the subject, Patrick Moore is joined by Jonathan Tate and Lembit Opik to discuss where this threat comes from and assesses the chances of impact from a Potentially Hazardous Object.

Evolving Universe: Beginnings

Patrick Moore is joined by Chris Lintott for a back-to-basics explanation of cosmology. Do current theories explain the Universe's 13,000 million year evolution? Can the Universe's fate be predicted?

Evolving Universe: Modern Views

In the second of two programmes on cosmology, Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott look at the latest theories on inflation, dark energy and the accelerating Universe.

The Lion's Storm

he dark, moonless sky of mid November may be filled by a spectacular storm of shooting stars as this year's Leonid meteors burn brightly in the upper atmosphere. Patrick Moore is joined by Dr John Mason who examines recent Leonid showers to explain why they happen, predict what may be in store for us this year and describe the best way to observe one of nature's most impressive sights.

The Star of Bethlehem

When Venus is brilliant, the question is often asked: can Venus have been the Star of Bethlehem? The answer is certainly 'no', but we still do not know what the star was, if anything. Patrick Moore is joined by David Hughes and Mark Kidger, who have made careful studies of the records. Can they give a convincing answer?