The Sky at Night

自然

S2018 E11 Telescope on a Plane!

本集简介

In this special programme, the Sky at Night takes to the air on board the largest airborne observatory in the world - a specially modified jumbo jet, flying out of California. This extraordinary aircraft is home to a 17-tonne telescope that observes the galaxy from around 40,000 feet. This telescope - called SOFIA - specialises in infrared astronomy. It can peer into the heart of a galaxy through the dust and gas, and see how stars form. It's designed to answer some of the biggest questions in astronomy: why aren't more stars being created and how do planets form?

上一集

2018/11/18 S2018 E10

First Rock from the Sun

Documentary series. Mercury, unique amongst the planets, is shrinking. And that's only the beginning of how strange the solar system's smallest planet is. In October 2018 a new mission to Mercury was launched - BepiColombo. It's a spacecraft consisting of two separate orbiters. Together, these hope to achieve the most complete exploration of Mercury to date.

Since its launch, the spacecraft has been hurtling through space towards the inner solar system on an arduous seven-year journey that includes nine fly-bys of other planets. Its destination is dangerous: Mercury has some of the most extreme conditions in the Solar System.

The Sky at Night investigates how Bepi was built, how it will get to Mercury and what it hopes to discover. Three big questions are at stake. How did Mercury form? Why is it shrinking? And how has it survived the full blast of the sun?

当前季

S2018

2018-01-14

哇，窗口太小啦

The Sky at Night