The Sky at Night

About this book

The Sky at Night book series, formerly published by Philips, documents the 40 most recent episodes of Sir Patrick Moore's record-breaking TV program of the same name. This program is the only major long-running TV program featuring astronomy topics in both the U.S. and the U.K. Each episode reviews current events and hot topics in the field of astronomy. As in the twelve earlier volumes, each of the episodes has been re-written into short, punchy essays from the past four years of broadcasting. Each chapter covers the subject of a particular show in The Sky at Night TV series. As such, this book presents a synopsis of the most significant events in astronomy during this 40-episode period.

Patrick Moore has fans the world over, for whom these volumes are essential reading. The Sky at Night programs (and, of course, the books) feature many of the greatest living astronomers, astrophysicists, cosmologists, and astronauts - people such as Sir Martin Rees (President of the U.K.'s prestigious Royal Society, and Astronomer Royal), Prof. Gerry Gilmore, astronaut Eugene Cernan, and many more. Chris Lintott, the co-star of the latest episodes of Sky at Night, has a massive fan base that derives equally from The Sky at Night and from his paradigm-shifting astronomy website Galaxy Zoo, which has some 150,000 members.

Contents

Foreword.- Introduction.- Acknowledgments.- Eye on the Sky.- The Turbulent Sun.- Comet Crash.- The Search for Life Elsewhere.- Mapping the Sky.- News from the Planets.- Spanish Ring.- The Sizes of the Stars.- The Edge of the Solar System.- The Telescopes of Mauna Kea.- Turkish Delight.- Ringed World.- Matter We Cannot See.- Gamma Ray Bursters.- Wandering Giants.- The Problem with Pluto.- Non-Identical Twins.- The Sounds of the Stars.- Space-Man.- Exploring Mars.- The Lakes of Titan.- The Lakes of Titan Continued.- Fiftieth Anniversary.- SuperWASP.- Scorpion in the Sky.- The August Perseids.- Black Holes and Black Magic.- Jodrell Bank-50th Anniversary.- The Grand Collision.- Holme's Comet.- Cosmic Debris.- Nearest Star.- The Flight of the Phoenix.- Devil's Advocate.- Galaxy Zoo.- Four Hundred Years of the Telescope.- The Merry Dancers.- The Fountains of Enceladus.- The Herschel Telescope.- Onward to the Moon.- Forty Years On.- Impact!.- Life?.- Index.

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Biography

Sir Patrick Moore is one of the world's leading popularisers of astronomy. He has written more than 100 books and presented his BBC TV program The Sky at Night every four weeks since 1957, making it the world's longest running television program of any kind. While still in school, he became a member of the British Astronomical Association (BAA) and was later appointed director of Brockhurst Observatory. He served as director of the Armagh Planetarium between 1965 and 1968. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (and a Jackson Gwillt medallist), a member of the International Astronomical Union, a holder of the Goodacre medal, and former president and current life vice-president of the BAA. A minor planet (# 2602) has been named after him. He was knighted in November 2000. He was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society. As the presenter of the record breaking The Sky at Night series, Patrick was awarded a BAFTA in 2000. The most important research Patrick has carried out has been about the Moon. He is credited with discovering the Mare Orientale. He did this with his "traditional" 12 1/2 inch reflector, which still sits proudly in his front garden. His maps of the Moon were among those used by the Russians in 1959 to correlate the first Lunik 3 pictures of the far side. He was also at NASA for the lunar mapping prior to the Apollo missions. Chris Lintott, the co-star of the latest episodes of Sky at Night, has a massive fan base that derives equally from The Sky at Night and from his paradigm-shifting astronomy website Galaxy Zoo, which has some 150,000 members.