Catch up TV
Space Rock Return
The Sky at Night is back for a brand new series, and this month it is delving into Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which last year brought back a sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The team are finding out what it takes to analyse the tiny pieces of space rock, what they can tell us about how Earth became the planet it is today and may even tell us about the origins of life!\n\nWe kick off the episode with a catch-up on some of the astronomical news highlights since we have been off air and a quick history of asteroids. Chris Lintott then meets Professor Sara Russell and Dr Ashley King from the Natural History Museum in London, who were both involved with the Osiris Rex mission to Bennu. Chris discovers the challenges it encountered, from unexpected landing surfaces to problems opening the sample jar once it had returned. Chris then goes on to hold a piece of the asteroid itself and finds out about Sara and Ashley’s work on the space rock and the complex picture it is giving of Bennu’s history. By understanding the journey the asteroid has been on, they can learn more about the conditions in which the Earth formed and how our planet became the water rich place it is today.\n\nMeanwhile, Maggie Aderin-Pocock heads to Diamond Light Source to meet Dr Sharif Ahmed. He explains how the very large machine housed there produces light 10 billion times brighter than the sun, from which powerful X-rays are created, allowing scientists to analyse the very smallest of samples.\n\nFinally, George Dransfield heads to Royal Holloway University to meet Dr Queenie Chan, who is looking for tiny bubbles of liquid in the space rock samples, in which she may discover the secrets of how the building blocks of life could have formed.\n\nAnd as ever, our resident astronomer, Pete Lawrence, is back to tell us what can be seen in this month’s night sky.\n
Source: BBC 4
Most recent episodes of The Sky at Night
The Sky At Night
Asteroid Strike?
The team explore one of the biggest stories in space news, the ‘city killer’ asteroid 2024 YR4. First observed on 27 December 2024, it soon became one of the biggest ...
17-04-2025
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Ancestral Skies
This month, The Sky at Night teams up with BBC Ideas to discover the secrets of archaeology and astronomy and to reflect on our ancestral skies. \n\nThroughout history and acros ...
14-11-2024
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Question Time Special
Get ready for The Sky at Night’s annual Question Time Special, where viewers get the opportunity to ask the questions they have always wanted answered about our universe.\ ...
08-10-2024
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
2075: Our Place In Space
The Sky at Night is embarking on a journey into the future as we explore how space will revolutionise life on Earth over the next 50 years. As humanity's reach extends into the ...
11-09-2024
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Nicky, Nasa And The Next Frontier
In this Sky at Night special, the team talk to Dr Nicola Fox, NASA’s head of science, whose life began in the UK.\n\nPresenter Chris Lintott chats to Nicky about her early ...
15-08-2024
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Webb Telescope: The Story So Far
In July 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope released its first images. They were visually stunning, and it was clear they provided more detail of stars, galaxies and planets th ...
11-07-2024
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Cosmic Ghosts
This month, The Sky at Night has a spooky twist. Across the universe, there are hidden objects that we can’t see, but astronomers and scientists still believe they’r ...
13-06-2024
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Hiding In Starlight
Total solar eclipses, like the one seen last month in North America, allow us to see details of the Sun that can’t be seen at any other time. So, this month, The Sky at Ni ...
16-05-2024
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Space Rock Return
The Sky at Night is back for a brand new series, and this month it is delving into Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which last year brought back a sample from the near-Earth ast ...
11-04-2024
BBC 4
Most popular episodes of The Sky at Night
The Sky At Night
Asteroid Strike?
The team explore one of the biggest stories in space news, the ‘city killer’ asteroid 2024 YR4. First observed on 27 December 2024, it soon became one of the biggest ...
17-04-2025
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
The Sky At Day
The British weather is often the enemy of stargazers up and down the country. A forecast of a couple of hours of cloud cover will disappoint even the most determined amateur ast ...
13-07-2022
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Telescope On A Plane!
Telescope on a Plane!\n\nIn this special programme, the Sky at Night takes to the air on board the largest airborne observatory in the world – a specially modified jumbo j ...
09-12-2018
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
How Gravity Shapes The Universe
The team travels to the Brecon Beacons AstroCamp to see how gravity shapes the universe. Chris finds out about the newest moon in the solar system.
18-05-2014
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Telescope Takeover
The team travel to the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands where they take control of some of the world's largest telescopes to view the most spectacular sights in the nigh ...
12-02-2017
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Impacts
The team looks at the cosmic impacts which have shaped the universe around us, from asteroids crashing into the surface of the moon to galaxies colliding with each other.
15-06-2014
BBC 4
The Sky At Night
Guides: 2. Galaxies
Galaxies are the building blocks of the universe. Our solar system sits inside a huge galaxy that we call the Milky Way - home to as many as 300 billion stars. But the Milky Way ...
11-08-2019
BBC 4