My family and I were deeply saddened by the news of Sir
Patrick Moore’s death yesterday. I feel I have lost part of my childhood. My interest in astronomy was fuelled by the
Sky at Night, and all the incredibly exciting events of my school years. Our generation grew up during the great age of
space exploration: the moon landings,
the Voyager missions, and the Space Shuttle launches, to name just a few
landmark events of the past half century.
Sir Patrick was always there to entertain with
his boundless enthusiasm and passion for astronomy, and to help explain what had happened if things went tragically wrong. He could always be relied on to clarify the most obscure
technicalities of the subject without ‘dumbing it down’ for the television
audience. And he was always keen to
emphasize that you do not need to buy any expensive equipment to enjoy the
wonders of the night sky, and that even amateur astronomers could make a valuable contribution to science by making careful observations. Amateur astronomers have discovered new comets
and supernovae.
Sir Patrick’s moon maps and observations were so precise and
detailed that they were used by NASA when the moon landings were being planned.
Sir Patrick’s work was an inspiration to millions of
astronomy fans. I do hope that the Sky at Night programmes will continue, so
that more generations will be inspired to gaze up at the heavens, and wonder...
Images from the author’s collection:
Cover page of a Moon landing special souvenir issue of the
Stockport Express, 1969.
The author’s observations of the Moon with a small telescope
in 1975.
The planet Saturn in 1872. Sir R. S. Ball, The Story of the
Heavens, Cassell & Co., 1893.
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