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
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 ...
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BBC 4
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BBC 4
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BBC 4
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BBC 4
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BBC 4
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BBC 4
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BBC 4
The Search For Alien Life
The Sky at Night team investigate the latest science in the hunt for extraterrestrial life. Scientists have never been more obsessed with finding aliens than they are right now. ...
13-04-2023
BBC 4
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 fest ...
22-09-2021
BBC 4
The Mystery Of 'oumuamua
In October 2017, astronomers made a spectacular discovery - they spotted the first ever object to visit our solar system from outer space. They gave it a suitably exotic name... ...
15-02-2018
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
Black Holes: Searching For The Unknown
There has never been a more exciting time to study one of the most mysterious phenomena in space. This month, The Sky at Night team investigate the science of black holes and di ...
17-08-2023
BBC 4
The Search For Alien Life
The Sky at Night team investigate the latest science in the hunt for extraterrestrial life. Scientists have never been more obsessed with finding aliens than they are right now. ...
13-04-2023
BBC 4
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