The Sky at Night

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Opening title of the television programme

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, the monocled Sir Patrick Moore. The programme's stirring initial and closing theme music is At the Castle Gate from the incidental music to Pelleas et Melisande 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.

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 University College London, but returned for the August programme.

External link

[The Sky at Night website]

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