Catch up TV
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 threats from an asteroid ever detected, with the potential to cause a heat blast that could vaporise solid rock, wind blasts five times the speed of the strongest hurricane and a shockwave that would flatten buildings and trees for hundreds of miles. This was a potential natural disaster we needed to respond to as a planet. So how well did we do? Our team of presenters are on hand to find out, and while YR4 was later downgraded to a near miss, what has it told us about our ability to react when an asteroid strike is on its way?\n\nGeorge Dransfield kicks off, talking us through the damage an asteroid like YR4 could do and why some say we are overdue an asteroid strike of this size. But how will we know if it’s truly on its way?\n\nChris Lintott meets Dr Meg Schwamb at a football pitch – which it turns out is the perfect place to explain how the probability of a strike is calculated. Following the same highs and lows they do when a ball just misses the goal, they explain why the probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting earth first rose so quickly before it fell. It turns out it wasn’t the maths being wrong!\n\nLuckily, next time the numbers say an asteroid impact is on its way, we do have ways of defending ourselves, Maggie Aderin-Pocock takes a tea break to explain some of the options, from nudging it to nuking it - they all have their pros and cons.\n\nBut to know our best plan of action, we need to understand more about the asteroids, and George meets up with Dr Carly Howett to find out how Nasa’s Lucy Mission could provide us with invaluable information for any future strikes.\n\nWith this wealth of information about any potential asteroids heading our way, Maggie meets Prof Hugh Lewis in Southampton to discover how the international community is set up to respond to any future threats, and to find out who will decide what action to take and the possible consequences it may have.\n\nBut the skies and the asteroids in it aren’t just a scary threat to humanity; when we stop and look up, there are some beautiful sights to be seen, and Pete Lawrence is on hand to tell us what to look out for in the coming months.\n\nJoin us for an exciting episode that looks beyond the headlines, to see what efforts were made to protect us from an asteroid that could have wiped out a city the size of Greater London - and beyond.
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 ...
14-04-2025
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 ...
14-04-2025
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
The Sky At Night
Outback Astronomy
In February 2018, news broke that astronomers had seen the cosmic dawn - the moment when stars first formed, flooding the universe with light. What's remarkable is that this inc ...
12-07-2018
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
