{"id":27812,"date":"2022-01-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=27812"},"modified":"2022-02-02T15:07:58","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T15:07:58","slug":"inside-the-sky-at-night-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2022\/01\/20\/inside-the-sky-at-night-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Sky at Night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With multiple locations and interviewees, there was plenty to organise for January\u2019s Sky at Night,<\/em> and Carisse Perks made it all run smoothly<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
On location: Carisse Perks, The Sky At Night\u2019s Production Coordinator, sets up multiple filming locations for each episode. Recently the team visited the South Downs National Park (above), for a night shoot (inset) involving a little too much cloud <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Despite not being what anyone would call an \u2018outdoors person\u2019, in late November 2021 I found myself shivering on top of a very windy hill in Hampshire waiting for the Sun to set. After all, what\u2019s a Sky <\/em>at <\/em>Night <\/em>episode about dark skies without filming under some?<\/p>\n\n

I have always loved TV, so late one day in March 2017, while thinking long and hard about what I wanted to do with my life, I released that <\/em>was it. I did some research into the different roles and routes into the industry, and thought that with my background in admin, the production management route was the right one for me. I am now the Production Coordinator on The <\/em>Sky <\/em>At <\/em>Night. <\/em>Whenever anyone asks me what it involves, I usually say, \u201cIt\u2019s mostly booking trains.\u201d But in reality it is a lot more than that.<\/p>\n\n

We usually film one episode per month, around two and half weeks before the episode is due to air, as each episode takes two weeks to edit. This wasn\u2019t possible for the January episode, as that would have meant filming over Christmas and New Year \u2013 and trying to get locations, interviewees, editors, film crew and presenters all available at the same time is hard enough at the best of moments! So we filmed this in November, just before our December episode.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Multiple locations<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

I set up filming at our three main locations. As well as the South Downs National Park with presenter Pete Lawrence, we also filmed at the Van Gogh \u2018Immersive Experience\u2019 in East London, with Chris Lintott and Maggie Aderin-Pocock chatting about how the night sky has changed over the years since Van Gogh painted his famous Starry <\/em>Night. <\/em>Lastly, we recorded at Television Centre in West London with the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers telling Chris how they do astronomy in Central London with its high levels of light-pollutiion. I\u2019m the main point of contact for any location, and so I make sure we have the right permissions, negotiate access times and make sure that the location is aware of how many of us are turning up, which can be between two and ten people.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

While it is not the norm for Production Coordinators to go out on location, I try and go whenever I can, and I have been on near-enough every shoot of this series. It\u2019s invaluable when it comes to dealing with post-production paperwork and talking about the episodes with each of the team. Every episode is different, but I am generally on hand for all important lunch and coffee runs, as well as helping to carry some of the vast amount of kit.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s also my job to keep an eye on the budget, and make sure we don\u2019t overspend. Thankfully, there is a lot of goodwill towards our show, and most people are happy to negotiate with me!<\/p>\n\n

And so back to that hilltop in November. Yes, it was cold and a little muddy. And yes, we had to lug a huge amount of film equipment up a hill. And yes, it was still cloudy so we couldn\u2019t see the stars. But, in the dark, among the sheep, I couldn\u2019t help feeling proud to be a small part of the 818th episode of this long-running show, in Moore\u2019s Reserve \u2013a dark-sky site named for our most famous presenter.<\/p>\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Carisse Perks is the Production Coordinator for The Sky at Night<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Looking back: The Sky at Night<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

18 February 1991<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Because the rate of a pulsar\u2019s spin is so precise they are used as cosmic clocks <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the February 1991 episode of The Sky at Night <\/em>Patrick spoke with Andrew Lyne, an astronomer from Jodrell Bank near Manchester. They discussed millisecond pulsars, which flash radio waves hundreds of times a second with such precise timing they\u2019re often referred to as \u2018the fastest clocks in the Universe\u2019. The Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank has observed pulsars since they were first discovered over 50 years ago, and today monitors over 800 radio pulsars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pulsar is the rapidly rotating remains of a dead star, normally a neutron star though they can be white dwarfs. These stellar corpses are highly magnetised and emit intense beams of electromagnetic radiation from their poles. As the stars rotate, the beams sweep across space. On Earth, we see them as a faint point of light blinking on and off, visible only when the beam passes over. The rate of a pulsar\u2019s spin is precise, hence their use as cosmic clocks.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first pulsar to be discovered in 1967 pulsed once every 1.33 seconds, which was why astronomers were shocked in 1986 when the Lovell Telescope detected a pulsar flashing once every 1.55 milliseconds. It was the fastest pulsar yet seen, and remained so until 2005, when a pulsar with a pulse of 1.39 milliseconds was discovered.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
Universe<\/h5>\n\n

The Sky at Night <\/em>is taking a break in February and March, and will return in April for more adventures in astronomy and spaceflight. In the meantime, you can still catch up with Professor Brian Cox\u2019s latest series Universe, <\/em>which is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer. In this five-part series, Professor Cox takes a trip across space and time to reveal the chaotic and often beautiful moments that irrevocably altered the evolution of the cosmos.<\/p>\n\n

Watch via bbc.co.uk\/iplayer<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Brian Cox\u2019s latest series explores the events that shaped our Universe<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Photos: NEIL JONES, PETER LEONARD, MARK GARLICK\/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY\/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, BBC\/NEIL HARVEY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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