Sir Patrick Moore

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.

Destination Moon

As we approach the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landings, it’s worth taking a look at what was known about our satellite less than two centuries ago. Its orbit and movements were pretty accurately known, and its surface reasonably well mapped.

A writer in the Penny Magazine (22 June 1833) humorously speculated whether imaginary inhabitants of the near side of the moon read Penny Magazines which described the appearance of the planet Earth, and if moon dwellers discussed what kind of creatures lived on a planet wreathed in vapours.

The writer, however, finished his discussion by explaining to his readers that ‘the existence of any animal like man is impossible’ on the moon, not just because of the length of the lunar day and night, but because of ‘the want of an atmosphere.’ So nineteenth century scientists had a pretty good idea about conditions on our companion in space.

A very exciting new website will go live this week, which will explore the story of Apollo 11’s astronauts in a ‘real-time’ recreation of this never-to-be-forgotten mission. I was just eleven years old that summer, and I vividly recall holding my breath as the astronauts piloted their fragile craft down to the moon's surface, and the relief when they arrived safely at their destination.

Image: Telescopic appearance of the Moon, Penny Magazine, 22 June 1833, Author’s collection.