The Last Man on the Moon • 2014

12:12

Twenty years after its launch, we bid farewell to the Cassini spacecraft as it plunges into Saturn’s atmosphere in a planned death spiral. Productive right to the end, Cassini has rewritten the textbook on not only Saturn and its moons, but our whole solar system as well.

1 • Science Breakthroughs • 2017 • Astronomy

42:29

We don't yet know where the edge of the universe is or what happens there; but thanks to cutting-edge technology and new discoveries, experts might finally reveal the secrets of the phenomena that can be found in deepest reaches of the cosmos.

S8E7 • How the Universe Works • 2020 • Astronomy

59:00

Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, with the help of the world’s most powerful telescope, ventures through the Milky Way and into the universe beyond, on the hunt for alien worlds.

S1E3 • Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: Is There Life Beyond Earth? • 2025 • Astronomy

42:01

Astronaut Mike Massimino investigates the possibility of a giant ninth planet at the edge of the solar system; using the latest technology, he reveals the incredible secrets of this mysterious world.

S1E5 • The Planets (US) • 2017 • Astronomy

29:22

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 than ever before. But for the scientists waiting on the data, this was just the beginning of their journey to discover what the new telescope would reveal. Since then, they have been working hard and publishing papers on all the data JWST has been sending back. Two years ago, just after the first images were released, Chris Lintott set off on a road trip to meet some of the scientists that were excitedly waiting on the first data. He wanted to find out what they hoped it could reveal. To mark the second anniversary Chris, along with fellow presenters Maggie Aderin-Pocock and George Dransfield, headed off to meet scientists old and new, to find out what the Webb Telescope has told us so far. Chris gives us a run-down of the highs and lows the Webb Telescope has been through and the other discoveries it has made. Maggie is off to Bristol University to revisit Dr Hannah Wakeford who has been using JWST data to reveal what interesting chemicals exoplanet atmospheres contain. George meets Professor Leigh Fletcher at the University of Leicester. When Chris met him two years ago, only one JWST image of Jupiter had been released. Now, he has data from all four of the outer planets of the solar system, and they have all thrown up surprises. JWST has revealed new jet streams on Jupiter and provided a greater understanding of its Galilean moons. Seasonal changes on Saturn have now been documented, and Uranus and Neptune have thrown up quirks that need another few years of work to understand. Chris also visits the University of Cambridge to meet Dr Sandro Tacchella, who has been part of a team looking back at some of the earliest galaxies. He explains what new light the JWST data can shed on ancient stars, and what that can reveal about how our cosmos formed after the Big Bang. Finally, our resident astronomer Pete Lawrence guides us through what there is to see in this month’s night sky, and how you too can look at some of the same targets as the James Webb Space Telescope – just not quite in the same level of detail!

S68E4 • BBC The Sky at Night • 2024 • Astronomy

12:15

Saturn is the crown jewel of the solar system, beautiful and fascinating. It is a gas giant, and has a broad set of rings made of ice particles. Moons create gaps in the rings via their gravity. Saturn has dozens of moons, including Titan, which is as big as Mercury and has a thick atmosphere and lakes of methane; and Enceladus which has an undersurface ocean and eruptions of water geysers. While we are still uncertain, it is entirely possible that either or both moons may support life.

18 • Crash Course Astronomy • Astronomy