The Sky at Night investigates Britain's attempt to become a major player in the modern space race. From Scotland's wild northern shore, where Britain's first spaceport is planned, to the team planning Britain's new rocket system, the programme explores the technology behind a quiet revolution in Britain's space industry. Driving the resurgence of 'space Britannia' is a new breed of spacecraft - micro-satellites. As many as 12,000 of them will be built and launched worldwide over the next decade, and Britain is aiming for a slice of the action. Also, guest presenter Tim Peake celebrates Britain's past glories in space and finds out where it all went wrong.
Source: BBC 4
Queen Of Pulsars
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell is a discoverer and an explorer of the distant cosmos, and she has walked among the stars. She discovered the first pulsar in 1967 - a discovery so imp ...
14-08-2025
BBC 4
Exoplanets - Strange New Worlds
The team go on a cosmic adventure, exploring one of the newest areas of modern astronomy – the search for exoplanets, the distant bodies that orbit stars beyond our own so ...
16-07-2025
BBC 4
Greenwich: A Journey Through Space And Time
To celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Royal Observatory, the team recreate history. \n\nIn the times of the early Astronomers Royal, scientists would gather at spectacular d ...
12-06-2025
BBC 4
Secrets Of The Red Planet
Could life have once thrived on Mars? What mysterious force is moving large boulders across its dusty surface today? And will a return trip to our neighbouring planet ever be po ...
15-05-2025
BBC 4
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
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
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
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
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
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 Brightest Star
The team explore stargazing in the daytime, show how seasons change on other planets across the solar system and examine what makes the sun special.
13-07-2014
BBC 4
Guides: 3. Stars
For as long as humans have walked the Earth, the stars have fascinated us. But we have come a long way since the earliest days of astronomy when we had nothing but our eyes to o ...
09-01-2022
BBC 4
The Invisible Universe
The Sky at Night reports on one of the most unnerving discoveries in space science - that most of the universe is missing.\n\nWe live in a material world, so instinctively we kn ...
18-01-2018
BBC 4
Wonders Of The Night Sky
The Sky at Night celebrates one of the most profound, moving and enjoyable activities there is - the ancient art of looking up, studying and marvelling at the night sky. The pro ...
10-12-2017
BBC 4
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
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
Hubble: The Five Greatest Images Of The Cosmos
For 25 years the Hubble Space Telescope has been showing us the cosmos as we've never seen it before. The team reveals the 'top five' greatest images Hubble has produced, images ...
12-04-2015
BBC 4