Try 30 days of free premium.

Season 2021 - Episode Guide

Episodes

Pick of the Year

Episode: 2021-01-17 | Airdate: Jan 17, 2021

Pick of the Year

Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Chris Lintott look back at some of the biggest stories featured on the programme in 2020, with the help of special guests who have chosen their favourite moments.

From the launch of Solar Orbiter to the discovery of phosphine on Venus, the team relive the astronomy highlights of a highly unusual year.

 

Mars and Meteorites

Episode: 2021-04-11 | Airdate: Apr 11, 2021

Mars and Meteorites

In February, orbiters from China and the UAE settled into their positions above Mars, and Nasa's Perseverance rover touched down on its surface. Maggie Aderin-Pocock reviews the astonishing footage the rover has already sent back, and talks with its legendary chief designer Adam Seltzer about the challenges of missions to the red planet.

Chris Lintott reveals the incredible ‘track-and-trace' story behind the discovery of the Winchcombe Meteorite, and is given special access to the labs at the Natural History Museum to see the meteorite itself. Chris meets Dr Ashley King, who is co-ordinating UK-wide research into the rocky interloper, which it is hoped might tell us more about the early universe and reveal clues to the origin of life.

Pete Lawrence is on hand with a guide to viewing planets in the night sky, and to tell us what to look out for over the course of the rest of the year, and Maggie pays tribute to her childhood hero, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who became the first person in space 60 years ago this month.

Mapping the Milky Way

Episode: 2021-05-09 | Airdate: May 9, 2021

Mapping the Milky Way

The Gaia space telescope is not just create the ultimate star map of the Milky Way. It is also showing us our galaxy's past and how it will change in the future.

The Sky at Night team takes a look at the history of astrometry and meets the scientists now able to prove that change is the only constant in the universe.

Space Boom Britain

Episode: 2021-06-13 | Airdate: Jun 13, 2021

Space Boom Britain

The Sky at Night team visit the companies spearheading the boom in Britain's space industry, a sector with an annual income of £16.4bn and which employs over 45,000 people.

ET and the BBC

Episode: 2021-07-11 | Airdate: Jul 11, 2021 (60 min)

ET and the BBC

Chris and Maggie dive into the archives to discover how the hunt for extra-terrestrial life in the universe has been reported by the BBC over six decades. Such luminaries as Patrick Moore, Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan, James Burke and Alan Whicker discuss the eternal question of whether we are alone. The story of how the BBC has covered advancements in this scientific field is told from the birth of radio astronomy in the 1960s to the discovery of the first planets outside of our own solar system in the 1990s, and right up to probes exploring our neighbouring planets in the present day. There are also some rather more offbeat claims of UFO sightings, alien abductions and accounts of humanoid-like beings that supposedly live on Venus.

Exploring Jupiter

Episode: 2021-08-08 | Airdate: Aug 8, 2021

Exploring Jupiter

August 2021 marks ten years since Nasa's mission to Jupiter, Juno, was launched. The mission – to uncover the mysteries surrounding Jupiter's formation – was expected to end this year with the $1.1 billion satellite deorbiting into the planet's gassy atmosphere. But thanks to the ingenuity of its engineering, the robust spacecraft has surpassed expectations and been granted an extension to its life.

The Sky at Night looks at the amazing research that has resulted from this mission, expanding our understanding of the gas giant and explaining how Juno will now use its extra time in orbit to gather information for future Jupiter-bound missions – Nasa's Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency's Juice mission.

Question Time

Episode: 2021-09-19 | Airdate: Sep 19, 2021 (60 min)

Question Time

A special ‘Question Time' edition of the programme, recorded at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford, as part of the British Science Association's annual science festival.

Planetary scientist Dr Carly Howett and cosmologist Professor Hiranya Peiris join Chris Lintott, Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Pete Lawrence to answer questions from viewers covering all things astronomical – from the size of the universe to the possible nature of alien life.

Chaired by Dallas Campbell.

The Forgotten Solar System

Episode: 2021-10-10 | Airdate: Oct 10, 2021

The Forgotten Solar System

Of the 100 probes that have been sent out into space, only one probe - Voyager 2 in 1989 - has ever sent back any information about the solar system's outer planets. From afar, they seem featureless and devoid of any significant geological activity.

Since then, long-range telescopes have shown that there is much more to Neptune and Uranus than previously thought and that they both warrant closer inspection. Time, however, is of the essence. Deep-space missions are dependent on Jupiter. The slingshot effect it provides to move probes along the way is only available to us every 25 years.

Telescopes through Time

Episode: 2021-11-14 | Airdate: Nov 14, 2021

Telescopes through Time

The Sky at Night team explore the history of the telescope – from Harriot and Galileo's lunar observations to the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes – revealing how developments in the power of lenses have increased our understanding of our place in the cosmos.

Review of the Year

Episode: 2021-12-12 | Airdate: Dec 12, 2021

Review of the Year

Chris and Maggie look back at some of the stories they have covered in 2021 in the Sky at Night's big review of the year.

Try 30 days of free premium.