As The Sky at Night looks back at the programmes in 2021, producer Peter Leonard reflects on the role the show has played in his career
Since March 2021, I’ve been the series producer of The Sky at Night. It means that I’ve had to learn a lot about astronomy and space science very quickly in order to research, plan, shoot and edit the show every month. But it’s been great fun and a privilege to take my place in the unbroken chain of people who have been doing this job for 65 years. But although I only started in the role this year, my connection with the show goes back to nearly the start of my working life, in the early 1990s.
I was working at the BBC’s Television Centre in London, desperately trying to get promoted. I wanted to be a videotape editor – someone who puts shows together, cuts things out, smooths things over, adds captions and gets on-screen credits. However, back then it was widely accepted that it would take at least 10 years to reach the giddy heights of videotape editor, and I only had a handful of years under my belt. But one evening, fate smiled on me. “We’ve got a simple edit job that needs doing in VT5”, my supervisor said. “All the editors are busy. Do you fancy having a go?”
“Yes, of course,” I lied.
“It’s for The Sky at Night,” he went on. “They want to change a couple of shots. Don’t mess it up.”
Making changes
Petrified, but realising that this was a ‘now or never’ moment, I hurried off to meet my fate. And although it was a simple job, I managed to make it look complicated. But Pieter Morpurgo (the then producer and without doubt the nicest man in television) was very good about my fumbling and lack of experience.
The show has changed hugely in the 30 years or so that have passed since I first ‘worked’ on it. Videotape is now largely a historical curiosity, and far from being mostly studio-based, the programme is now filmed on location, taking viewers to the people and places that bring further dimensions to the experience of looking at the night sky. And, thanks to the rise and reliability of video calls, we’ve met astronomers and scientists across the world, from NASA to New Zealand. You certainly couldn’t have done that in the 1990s!
This month’s episode is our review programme, where we feature some of the highlights of the year. And what a year! We’ll be looking back at NASA’s latest Mars mission (Perseverance) and looking ahead to the JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) mission, as well as updating some of our stories, such as Anglo-Japanese company Astroscale’s attempts to clean up low-Earth orbit. Other highlights include a new report on ESA’s BepeColombo mission to Mercury, another chance to see some of Herstmonceux Observatory Science Centre, and a remarkable story of seeing Jupiter and its moons at the Cricket World Cup.
Though I could never have imagined I’d be able to say it back in that edit suite with Pieter Morpurgo, it’s very good to be back.
This, my latest encounter with the programme, started with a phone call last February. “We need a series producer for The Sky at Night,” they said. “Do you fancy giving that a go?”
“Yes of course,” I said. Truthfully, this time.
Peter Leonard is the series producer of The Sky at Night
Looking back: The Sky at Night
10 January 1982
On the evening of 9 January 1982, a blood red Moon was seen in the sky above the UK, as a total lunar eclipse passed overhead. The next day, on The Sky at Night, Patrick Moore talked the public through the features they’d seen the previous night, using footage recorded by a special camera set up on top of London’s Television Centre.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through Earth’s shadow. But this shadow doesn’t have a hard edge, due to Earth’s atmosphere diffusing the light. In the outer portion of the shadow, known as the penumbra, Earth only partially shadows the Sun. Meanwhile, the inner portion of the shadow, known as the umbra, is lit by sunlight bent by the atmosphere. As the air scatters away the blue part of the spectrum, this region takes on a red glow.
Patrick showed viewers footage of the lunar eclipse, pointing out that when the Moon passes through the penumbra, the lunar disc dims while a portion of the surface fades into darkness. Then, when the Moon passes into the umbra it reappears again, but this time its familiar grey is replaced with a rust red. Finally, the Moon passes back into the penumbra before leaving the shadow entirely, and the eclipse is over.
Dark Skies
Light pollution can make life very difficult for astronomers. In this episode the team speak to ecology experts, radio astronomers and dark-sky rangers to find out why light pollution is such an issue, whether it’s getting worse and what we can do about it. Plus, the London-based Baker Street Irregular Astronomers reveal how they observe the night sky from a light-polluted area.
BBC Four, 9 January, 10pm (first repeat BBC Four, 13 January, 7:30pm)
Check www.bbc.co.uk/skyatnight for more up-to-date information
