Patrick Moore tells you what to look for in the night sky during the coming month.

The first of a regular monthly series.

Episode 1

Patrick Moore shows what to look for in the night sky during the coming month.

Episode 2

Patrick Moore shows what to look for in the sky during the coming month.

Episode 3

Episode 4

Patrick Moore shows what to look for in the night sky during the coming month and discusses telescopes with Henry Wildey.

Episode 5

Patrick Moore shows what to look for in the sky during the coming month and talks to Clive Hare, the boy who first saw the New Comet in England.

Episode 6

Patrick Moore shows what to look for in the sky during the coming month and talks about the Sun to Colin Ronan, F.R.A.S.

Episode 7

Patrick Moore shows what to look for in the sky during the coming month and gives, with Reginald Edds and A. H. Degenhardt, a preview of Britain's first Planetarium.

Episode 8

Episode 9

Your monthly journey through the fascinating world of space and astronomy with the latest thinking on what's out there in space and what you can see in the night sky.

United Kingdom

The Sky at Night

BBC Four

Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.

Arena

The biggest names from the world of art, film, music, literature and dance. Alan Yentob gets close up with those shaping today's cultural world.

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Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing.

Shetland

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Scoop is a comprehensive information programme of Television Broadcasts Limited.

The content of the program is mainly based on entertainment news and personal follow-up of the artists, and will also be interspersed with the latest trends of TVB dramas and artists. Some entertainment news content clips will be rebroadcast on the next day's "Entertainment Live".

This program will be broadcast on Jade Channel from 19:30-20:00 (Hong Kong time) from June 6, 2005, and will be broadcast every day from March 3, 2019, and will be broadcast on myTV (later myTV SUPER) to provide "Program Review".

Scoop

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South at Six

20/20 is an American television newsmagazine that has been broadcast on ABC since June 6, 1978. Created by ABC News executive Roone Arledge, the show was designed similarly to CBS's 60 Minutes but focuses more on human interest stories than international and political subjects. The program's name derives from the "20/20" measurement of visual acuity.

The hour-long program has been a staple on Friday evenings for much of the time since it moved to that timeslot from Thursdays in September 1987, though special editions of the program occasionally air on other nights.

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The fiendishly difficult quiz show in which two teams of three contestants have to find the connection between seemingly unrelated clues, where patience and lateral thinking are as vital as knowledge.

Only Connect

Your user-friendly guide to the latest technology news, issues, gadgets and apps.

Click

An Australian media analysis television program currently focusing on critiquing the Australian media.

Media Watch

A celebrated hotelier visits a struggling British hotel and tries to turn its fortunes by giving advice and suggestions to the owner.

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BBC's football highlights and analysis.

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David Attenborough celebrates the amazing variety of the natural world in this epic documentary series, filmed over four years across 64 different countries.

Planet Earth

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Season 1

Patrick Moore shows you the wonders of the winter sky during the coming month.

Patrick Moore discusses with Dr. Roger Jennison of Jodrell Bank how radio astronomy is increasing our knowledge of the Universe.

Patrick Moore discusses the most famous of all the constellations.

Patrick Moore talks about the forthcoming penumbral eclipse of the Moon, and Mercury the nearest planet to the Sun.

Tonight Patrick Moore is at the Hampstead Observatory. If weather conditions are suitable television cameras will bring live pictures of the moon's surface.

Patrick Moore talks about the largest planet, its family of moons, and its mysterious changing red spot.

Patrick Moore talks about the life history of a star.

Patrick Moore explains what it would mean to astronomers if a successful attempt were made to reach the moon.

Patrick Moore talks about old and new telescopes with A. H. Degenhardt, and shows some of the things which the new telescopes can reveal-for instance, about the Andromeda Galaxy, whose light takes nearly two million years to reach us.

Patrick Moore talks to America's foremost astronomer, Dr. Harlow Shapley, about his theories on the size and scale of the universe.

Episode 10

Mars is better seen now than it will be for the next ten years.

Episode 11

Patrick Moore and Dr. Gilbert Fielder discuss the recent report by a Russian astronomer of an eruption on the moon, and what it reveals about the moon's origin and present state.

Episode 12

Season 2

Patrick Moore describes the life-cycle of a star and compares the Sun's history with that of Betelgeuse, the vast red giant now visible in Orion.

Patrick Moore talks about the forthcoming partial eclipse of the Moon and about the planet Mercury, which is at its most visible period for some time.

Patrick Moore and Roger Griffin talk about these pairs of suns revolving round each other, and how they help astronomers to measure the masses of the stars.

Patrick Moore discusses with Dr Harlow Shapley, former Director of Harvard College Observatory and one of the world's leading astronomers, our island of stars in the Universe, of which the solar system forms a minute and insignificant part.

Patrick Moore talks about some of the lesser known bodies of the Solar System.

Patrick Moore discusses with F. L. Jackson, F.R.A.S., the theory that the planet Venus is covered with a shallow ocean, which might possibly contain single-celled creatures of a primeval type.

Patrick Moore discusses with Colin Ronan the Northern Lights and other similar natural phenomena.

Patrick Moore talks about the planet Saturn, which may now be seen low in the south, looking like a fairly bright yellowish star. With its rings of satellites and its retinue of moons, it is one of the loveliest objects in the whole sky.

Patrick Moore introduces George Alcock who recently discovered two new planets. He also speaks about the eclipse of the sun which is visible here next Friday.

Patrick Moore talks with Colin Ronan about what is known of the hidden side of the moon, and about the Russian satellite Lunik III, its path through space, its looping of the moon, and the possible information it has brought back with it.

Patrick Moore gives an astronomer's view of the Star of Bethlehem which is described in Chapter 2 of the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

Episode 13

Season 3

Patrick Moore talks about the Andromeda nebula, the most distant object in the heavens it is possible to see with the naked eye, and compares it with what is known of our own galaxy.

Patrick Moore talks about the remote and slow-moving planet which was discovered in 1781. Uranus is sixty-four times as large as the earth, and has 65,000 days in its year, which is eighty-four times as long as ours.

Patrick Moore explains how the atmosphere interferes with the astronomer's work. He discusses with Dr. Hugh Butler of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, how a satellite could be an astronomical observatory.

The new comet, Burnham's, is now moving steadily closer to the earth, and should be clearly seen in late April. It will then be in the Northern part of the sky not far from the Pole Star.  Patrick Moore talks about this and other comets-where they come from, what they are, and how they move.

Patrick Moore talks about the centre of our galaxy, which is so obscured by clouds of dust, gas, and interstellar haze that only radio waves come through with evidence of what lies beyond.

Patrick Moore talks about the moons of other planets in the solar system. Some planets have more than one moon and they range in size from tiny globes, twelve miles across, to giants twice as heavy as the Moon.

August is one of the best times of the year to observe shooting stars. Patrick Moore talks about meteors and meteorites, and what we know about these sudden arrivals from outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Patrick Moore talks to Sir Harold Spencer Jones F.R.S.  The former Astronomer Royal about measuring distances which are literally astronomical. The greatest distance ever measured is that of a recently discovered galaxy whose light takes five thousand million years to reach the earth.

Soon the Russians and Americans should be able to land instruments on the surface of the moon.  Patrick Moore discusses with Gilbert Fielder, the Director of the Lunar Section of the British Astronomical Association, the conditions to be met with on the moon's surface and some of the problems that may be solved by a successful landing of instruments there.

[Editor's note: The original title of the episode Moonscape.  The current iPlayer listing has it as The Moon.]

Patrick Moore describes how the modern spectroscope has enabled astronomers to find out what different stars are made of and how bright they actually are.

Patrick Moore talks about his recent visit to Russia and some of the principal observatories there.

These are strange glassy objects of unknown origin which are found on the surface of certain parts of the world. Patrick Moore discusses with Dr. M. H. Hey, of the Department of Mineralogy, British Museum (Natural History), the theory, which has recently been in the news, that Tektites may have originated in the moon and travelled through space to the earth.

Season 4

Patrick Moore talks with W.M. Baxter, Secretary of the British Astronomical Association, about the mysterious dark areas, many thousands of miles across, on the sun's surface, known as sunspots.  Besides discussing whether these affect the weather, they also consider the effect of solar flares on future manned space-travel. Particles emitted from these may turn out to be one of the worst hazards of all.

In this programme, postponed from February, Patrick Moore discusses with Dr. F. L. Jackson, of King's College Hospital Pathology Department, the results of certain experiments carried out specially on behalf of 'The Sky at Night'. In these experiments various living organisms have been subjected to the conditions of atmosphere and temperature which exist on Mars.

Following last month's programme on the possibility of life existing on Mars, Patrick Moore discusses whether very low forms of life may be found on the Moon, our nearest neighbour in space and the one most likely to be first reached by man. He also shows viewers the newly published Russian Atlas of the back of the Moon, based on photographs taken by Lunik III.

As the Russian space probe approaches Venus, Patrick Moore discusses the little we know about this planet and what sort of world further exploration might reveal it to be.

Frank Hyde has built and operated his own radio telescope at Clacton in Essex. Patrick Moore discusses with him the contributions an amateur can make in this latest field of astronomy.

Patrick Moore discusses meteors and meteorites with Dr. M. H. Hey of the British Museum of Natural History, and the latest versions of the suggestion that some may contain organic compounds.

To celebrate the fiftieth edition of "The Sky at Night", Patrick Moore looks around the night sky through George Hole's 24-inch telescope at Patcham and the 36-inch telescope at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. Weather permitting, it is hoped to obtain the first-ever 'live' pictures of probably the most beautiful object in the heavens, Saturn and its rings.

Patrick Moore discusses with Dr. H. E. Butler how artificial satellites outside the earth's atmosphere can help astronomers, and what further discoveries they may lead to.

From time to time it has been suggested that the Earth may have more than one natural moon. Any such satellite would be very small and faint; but searches for them have been carried out, and recently a Polish astronomer claimed to have photographed two of them.  Patrick Moore discusses the theory with Colin Ronan.

Patrick Moore talks about star clusters and asks viewers to help find out how many stars in the Pleiades are visible without a telescope.

Patrick Moore describes how to set up a small home telescope, powerful enough for real astronomical use, and discusses with L. Marsland Gander the best way to use it. He also gives the result of viewers' observations of how many stars can be seen in the Pleiades.

Season 5

Patrick Moore discusses with Gilbert Fielder the age-old problem of what caused the craters on the moon, and whether the next Russian lunik may solve the problem.

Patrick Moore discusses with Dr. Francis Jackson bacteriologist of King's College Hospital reports that signs of past life have been found in meteorites They also report on the latest progress of the 'life on Mars' experiments inaugurated last year.

Pluto, on the boundary of the solar system, is the planet most remote from the earth. Patrick Moore discusses this strange small world whose mysteries have puzzled astronomers ever since its discovery in 1930.

The recent United States attempt to put millions of fine copper wires into orbit round the earth for communication purposes has aroused fierce objections from some astronomers.  Patrick Moore discusses this controversial subject with Colin Ronan.

Is space empty? Astronomers used to think so, but nowadays it is believed there is matter spread out between the stars so that we look out through a sort of cosmic fog.  Patrick Moore talks about what astronomers have learned by studying this matter.

Every year many people watch the midsummer sun rise over the avenue at Stonehenge. Patrick Moore discusses how much the ancient peoples knew of astronomy and how far the old Stone Circles of Britain were aligned astronomically.

From the control point of Frank Hyde's amateur radio astronomy station at St. Osyth in Essex, Patrick Moore discusses with Frank Hyde his work there, especially on the problem of whether the planet Jupiter generates its own radio signals.

With the help of a camera attached to the twenty-four-inch telescope in George Hole's back garden at Patcham, Patrick Moore brings viewers pictures directly from the sky and discusses with Dr. A. F. O'D Alexander, the most beautiful object to be seen there, the planet Saturn.

The first interplanetary rockets could carry with them bacteria from earth which might contaminate other planets. Returning spacemen might bring back new and dangerous bacteria which could endanger our existence here. Patrick Moore, Sir Bernard Lovell, and Dr. Francis Jackson give their views on this vital aspect of space travel.

Algol, now visible in the evening sky, was called 'The Demon Star' in ancient times. Certainly it is a most unusual star; periodically it seems to 'wink'. Patrick Moore discusses Algol, and explains its importance.

The American spacecraft Mariner II should be at its nearest to Venus on about December 14. Patrick Moore discusses with Howard Miles, Director of the Artificial Satellite Section of the British Astronomical Association, what it may reveal about the mysterious cloud-covered planet.

This year is the bicentenary of the death of James Bradley, third Astronomer Royal.

Patrick Moore and Colin Ronan discuss his work and observations, remarkable for his time, which first proved the earth was moving through space.

Season 6

1963 promises to be an exciting year for astronomy and space exploration.  Patrick Moore forecasts some of the possible highlights.

A Russian astronomer has suggested that the two moons of Mars might be artificial space stations.  Patrick Moore discusses the peculiarities of the Red Planet's satellites and considers whether they might be used as staging points for future manned exploration of Mars.

Patrick Moore and Howard Miles Director of the Artificial Satellite Section of the British Astronomical Association discuss the American space probe Mariner II and its remarkable new findings about the planet Venus.

Patrick Moore talks about the exploding star or nova in the constellation of Hercules which was recently discovered by an amateur astronomer in Sweden, and discusses the sequence of events which leads to these tremendous celestial catastrophes.

Patrick Moore discusses with Anthony Michaelis how over the years many writers' fantasies, like Bishop Godwin's voyage to the Moon of A.D. 1657, are now becoming reality, and whether other favourite theories of science fiction - anti-gravity, for instance - may in turn become fact.

American astronomers have just reported the discovery of a planet moving round a near star. It is now believed that similar planet families must be common in space.  Patrick Moore discusses the latest theories about how planets come into being.

It used to be thought that the moon had been a dead world for millions of years. Now Russian observers have reported traces of volcanic activity in two craters.  Patrick Moore discusses the evidence with Dr. T. M. Sugden, F.R.S. and considers how it affects theories of the moon's present state.

Patrick Moore and Professor C. W. Allen of London University show and discuss a remarkable film of the sun.

Patrick Moore discusses with Arthur C. Clarke, one of the pioneer thinkers of space exploration, how his ideas have developed as he has seen the reality happen, and in particular what will be the problems of organising a manned base on the moon.

Following the re-measurement of the distance to the nearest star system-the Andromeda Galaxy-as 2.2 million light years, Patrick Moore discusses with Henry Brinton how these enormous distances are calculated.

Patrick Moore discusses the recent unusual happenings observed in the surface markings of the giant planet Jupiter.

The stars have always compelled men's attention. Patrick Moore and Colin Ronan discuss some of the extraordinary legends attached to them in the past.

Season 7

Patrick Moore talks about some of the strange celestial objects, like the planet Vulcan, which have been reported at times but do not in fact seem to exist.

Frank Hyde discusses with Patrick Moore the progress of his radio-astronomy station's observations in collaboration with Florida State University to try to determine whether the radio emissions from Jupiter originate there or are reflected from the sun.

The recent flight of Ranger VI came near to solving the age-old problem of the nature of the Moon's surface.  Patrick Moore reports on the present situation and its significance to astronomers.

For ages man has used the stars to navigate by Patrick Moore discusses with Henry Brinton some of the new problems of celestial navigation which the space traveller has to face.

The Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland is the oldest observatory still in use in the Commonwealth. Yet the work being done there on the structure of galaxies is in the forefront of contemporary research. Dr. E. M. Lindsay, the director, describes the Observatory's activities to Patrick Moore, as well as showing him round the eighteenth-century building and its historic possessions.

Patrick Moore reports on the New York International Symposium on the Structure of the Moon's Surface, at which he himself read one of the technical papers.

The accurate astronomical alignment of Stonehenge, notorious on Midsummer Day, contrasts with ancient Egyptian theories that the sun and planets revolved round the earth.  Patrick Moore and Henry Brinton discuss the historical theories, some odd, some prescient, which have tried to explain the universe.

Quasi stellar objects, quasars for short, is the description given to a recently discovered and puzzling new kind of body in the universe.

Patrick Moore discusses with Colin Ronan these very remote and powerful sources of radio emissions.

Commenting on reported changes in the yellow colouring of the planet Saturn, Patrick Moore discusses the colours a telescope reveals in the night sky.

The minor planet Vesta is now visible in the evening sky. Patrick Moore talks about the swarm of dwarf worlds in the solar system which may be the remains of an old planet which met with disaster.

Patrick Moore and Henry Brinton discuss the current scientific evidence as to when the earth came into existence as a separate body in the solar system.

Season 8

Patrick Moore discusses the atmospheres of the other planets in the solar system, how much is known of them, what more is likely to be found out about them in the near future, and whether one day man will be able to survive them.

The advantages, drawbacks, and achievements of using balloons to take astronomical instruments above the earth's atmosphere are discussed by Patrick Moore and Kenneth Fea of the Space Research Group, University College, London.

Patrick Moore discusses what information the photographs taken by Ranger 8 may give on the controversial question of the nature of the moon's surface.

Patrick Moore examines the ancient mythology of the stars and some of the ways in which they have been said to influence man's destiny on earth.

Patrick Moore and Henry Brinton discuss how much useful observation can be done without using optical instruments.

Recent studies suggest that the day on Mercury may be two months long. Patrick Moore discusses how this affects our ideas of conditions on Mercury, and how its length of day compares with that of other planets.

Space was once thought to be empty, but recent planetary probes - such as Mariner IV now approaching Mars - have shown that it is anything but so. There is plenty of weather in space, though it is not the same as weather on earth.

Kenneth Fea discusses these new findings with Patrick Moore.

In the 100th edition of Sky at Night, Patrick Moore considers one of the most intriguing problems of modern astronomy: could conditions for life as we know it exist outside the solar system, would it be possible to establish communication with other worlds, and if we did what would be the result?

Patrick Moore discusses the information sent back by Mariner IV and what new ideas it gives us about the planet Mars.

Patrick Moore reports on Quasars.  These recently discovered objects, immensely distant sources of vast amounts of energy, are causing astronomers to reconsider their previous ideas of the nature of the Universe.

Patrick Moore looks at the new Isaac Newton telescope which will be the largest in Europe. What will it achieve?

In the past few months views about the nature and origin of the Universe have been changing considerably.

Patrick Moore discusses some of the current thinking on this vast subject.

Recent Russian studies have suggested that there may be another major planet in the solar system.  Patrick Moore discusses the evidence for the existence of a world even more distant than Pluto.

Season 9

Patrick Moore discusses with Frank Hyde whether the radio emissions from Jupiter, which have been puzzling many astronomers, can be related to the movements of Jupiter's moons.

On Christmas Eve the first meteorite to fall on British soil for many years exploded over the village of Barwell in Leicestershire. Patrick Moore discusses with experts and eye-witnesses its possible origin and nature.

The recent successful landing of the Russian space probe Luna-9 on the moon has brought nearer the possibility of a manned landing there.

Patrick Moore discusses the latest information, and speculates about the future.

Is Astronomy a good basis for further education?  Patrick Moore discusses with Professor A J. E. Ingram and Dr. R. C Maddison the Keele University practice of introducing all first-year students to astronomy, and the use they make of the University Observatory and telescopes.

On May 20 there will be a partial eclipse of the sun, visible from Great Britain.  Patrick Moore talks about eclipses and explains what will be seen on that day.

Since Greenwich Observatory was founded in 1675 there have been eleven Astronomers Royal.  Sir Richard Woolley, the present one, talks about the sometimes brilliant, sometimes eccentric characters of his predecessors.

Introduced by Patrick Moore.

Patrick Moore discusses with Barbara Middlehurst of the University of Arizona Observatory and lunar observer Peter Sartory a new theory of how the effect of the earth's pull on the crust of the moon may explain the reported volcanic outbursts there.

Sundials were one of the earliest instruments used to study the earth's movements. Patrick Moore discusses with Henry Brinton, and with Sir Alan Herbert who makes his own, the use of sundials in modern astronomy.

Patrick Moore talks to Professor P. A. Wayman, Director of Dunsink Observatory about the remote star-systems which have been found to be galaxies of immense size-many of them racing away from us at thousands of miles every second.

Saturn is the lovely Ringed Planet - but this year the rings are not properly visible. Patrick Moore explains this unusual appearance of Saturn, and why astronomers find it so interesting.

The Leonid shooting-stars may make a really brilliant display this month. Patrick Moore and N. B. Ridley talk about this interesting meteor shower, and ask for help from viewers in observing the Leonids of 1966.

1966 is near its end. Millions more years are to come, but the earth will not last for ever. Patrick Moore discusses some of the ways in which our world will eventually come to an end.

Season 10

At present the most brilliant object in the evening sky is Jupiter, giant planet of the Solar System - an immense world with cloud belts, the fascinating Great Red Spot. and four bright moons. Even a small telescope will show details upon its yellowish gaseous surface.

Patrick Moore talks about Jupiter, and the many problems that it presents to modern astronomers.

Well over a thousand artificial satellites are now in orbit round the earth, and some can be seen as bright lights crossing the stars.

Patrick Moore talks to Desmond King-Hele, F.R.S. about the way amateur observers can sight and track satellites, and about the value of these observations to space research.

Patrick Moore and Dr. V. Barocas talk about the nebulae - clouds of gas of many kinds far out in space. In some of these, new stars are coming into existence.

Close-up photographs of prospective lunar landing-sites are rapidly increasing our knowledge of the moon's surface. But how strong is the evidence that the lunar craters were formed by the same kind of volcanic activity as Earth calderas?  Patrick Moore puts this question to a geologist, Dr. G.J.H. McCall.

On the programme's tenth anniversary, Patrick Moore describes the enormous advances made in astronomical studies during the space-decade since April 1957. He shows highlights from past programmes, including the first photographs of the far side of the moon in 1959 and the solar eclipse tracked across Europe in 1961.

Since the American rocket Mariner IV went close to Mars to send back information, our ideas about the Red Planet have changed very much.  Patrick Moore discusses these new ideas with Harold Ridley and in particular considers whether there can be any life on Mars.

Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky, is now almost overhead during the evening. It is a magnificent blue star, much hotter than the sun.  Patrick Moore and Dr. V. Barocas talk about Vega, and discuss the view of the universe that could be obtained from there.

From 1845 until 1917 the biggest telescope in the world was the 72-inch reflector built and operated by Lord Rosse at his Irish home.

Patrick Moore visits Birr Castle in County Offaly, Eire, to discuss with the present Lord Rosse his great - grandfather's remarkable achievement in constructing the huge telescope, and his use of it to establish the spiral nature of galaxies.

Patrick Moore talks about Novae, which appear to be new stars but are in fact existing ones brightened by explosions, and discusses the new Nova near the Constellation of Delphinus with George Alcock, a Huntingdonshire schoolmaster, who was the first person to see it.

Patrick Moore and Colin Ronan discuss the increasing study of non-visible radiations from space which is dramatically widening our knowledge of the universe.

In the just-completed NASA Lunar Orbiter programme, five photo-laboratories have orbited the moon at 4,500 m.p.h.

Patrick Moore talks to H. J. P. Arnold about the sophisticated techniques involved in spacecraft photography.

The Russian probe Venus 4 has landed on its target.  Patrick Moore talks about the mysterious earth's twin' planet, and puts questions about the new information from Venus to Colonel Valery Bykovsky, the Russian astronaut.

Close Down

Meteorites are the only solid objects from outer space which land on earth. Two thousand have been found, the biggest weighing sixty tons. What are they, and where do they come from?  Patrick Moore discusses their significance and possible origin with a geologist, Dr. G. J. H. McCall.

Season 11

The enthusiasm of astronomers makes them build observatories at their own homes.  Tonight Patrick Moore looks at three home-built observatories, including his own, which he has successfully transferred to Northern Ireland. Not all are built for the same purposes.

Leap Year makes this a special month-but variations in earthly calendars are slight compared with those in other worlds.  In tonight's programme, Patrick Moore talks about Uranus's 65,000-day year, Jupiter's 'year', twelve times as long as ours but with a 'day' of less than ten hours, and Venus's 'year', which seems shorter than its 'day'.

The Armagh Planetarium-the first big public planetarium to be built in Britain outside the London area-was opened to visitors on February 5. Its Director, Patrick Moore, shows viewers round and describes its principles and uses.

Patrick Moore discusses with Iain Nicolson the sooty clouds in space which hide some stars and themselves shine in the light from others.

Patrick Moore discusses with Michael Bentine the problems of manned flight beyond the Moon to the planets and stars. They examine the techniques devised in fiction and in fact to solve some of these problems.

In three weeks' time the asteroid Icarus, first seen in 1949, orbits close to the Earth.  Patrick Moore talks to Dr. Vinicio Barocas about the nature and movements of the asteroids.

Sunspots, or 'storms' on the sun's surface, appear in maximum numbers about every eleven years; and large numbers are expected this year.

Patrick Moore discusses with William Baxter the significance of sunspot activity.

Strange, quickly vibrating radio sources have been discovered far out in space. These pulsating stars or 'pulsars' are one of the most exciting discoveries of modern science, and have taken astronomers by surprise.  Patrick Moore talks about them with Dr. A. Hewish at Cambridge and discusses the implications with Sir Bernard Lovell and Professor F. Graham Smith at Jodrell Bank.

Within a few months from now, man may land on the moon. Patrick Moore discusses with a geologist, Dr. Peter Cattermole, the conditions the first lunar astronauts are likely to find.

On September 22 a total eclipse of the sun will be visible in Russia. Patrick Moore explains why eclipses are scientifically important and what people in Britain will see.

Patrick Moore shows film and gives a first-hand description of the recent total eclipse of the sun he saw in Siberia, and discusses its scientific significance with another British astronomer who was there, Dr. Ron Maddison.

Radio-astronomers at Jodrell Bank are carrying out a series of remarkable experiments to measure the distance from earth of 'pulsars'-the mysterious regularly-ticking radio sources out in space which were discovered last year by British scientists.  Patrick Moore discusses the significance of these experiments with Dr. Gerhard de Jager at Jodrell Bank

The planet Venus is like the earth in size, yet totally unlike it - as recent American and Russian probes have shown - in being an inferno of heat and clouds.  Patrick Moore explains why modern research into Venus has only made the planet more mysterious than ever: and discusses with Commander Henry Hatfield, R.N., his remarkable photographs of the planets and the moon.

Is it unlucky to see the new moon through glass? The moon has always been thought to have a powerful influence on the earth, causing not only tides but good luck, bad luck, and even lunacy, according to its phases.  Patrick Moore discusses with Henry Brinton, Bert Foord, weather man and J. P. Hutchinson, a psychiatrist the scientific truths and popular superstitions about the moon's effects on the earth.

Episode 14

Season 12

Man has just taken his first close look at the moon, and in a few months American spacecraft are expected to bring back samples of the moon's crust for analysis.

At this turning point in lunar research, as the long history of earth-based observation gives way to first-hand experience, Patrick Moore sums up our present knowledge; Raymond Baxter discusses the significance of the new developments with Sir Bernard Lovell, Professor J.G. Davies, and Dr. J.H. Thomson at Jodrell Bank; and Patrick Moore describes the optical work done at the world's highest observatory, the Pic du Midi.

Sequences in France made available by courtesy of the French Television Service

Without a telescope can you see the phases of Venus? The little star Alcor? The Great Nebula in Andromeda?  Patrick Moore discusses what can or cannot be seen without telescopes and invites viewers to join in an experiment.