The Sky at Night: 1985
Season 29 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of The Sky at Night Season 28.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 29 Progress Shield
Worlds Apart?
Jan 13, 1985
Patrick Moore looks at the new and quite unexpected developments in our understanding of Beta Pictoris and Van Biesbroeck 8-two very different stars, but both associated with faint
Colours of the Stars
Feb 10, 1985
The Anglo-Australian Telescope in New South Wales is one of the largest and best telescopes in the world. With it David Malin has been taking colour pictures of remote stars and s
The Year of the Comet
Mar 10, 1985
Halley's Comet is now approaching the Sun and the Earth. Patrick Moore explains when and where to look for the comet, and describes the various investigations which are to be carri
The Sky in Infra-Red
Mar 31, 1985
The Infra-Red Astronomical Satellite, IRAS, operated for most of 1983 and provided important information about subjects ranging from the dusty tails of comets to star formation in
Moon Rills
May 5, 1985
The moon is a world of mountains, craters, valleys, peaks and huge waterless seas. Of special interest are the cracklike features known as rills, which are unlike anything we find
Little Worlds
Jun 2, 1985
During its voyage to Jupiter, the American Galileo probe will survey a small and interesting world, the asteroid Amphitrite - one of the swarm of minor planets moving round the sun
Summer Sky
Jun 30, 1985
How do you find your way around the sky? It is not difficult; the constellation patterns are easy enough to make out. Patrick Moore conducts what may be called a guided tour, expl
Infra-Red at Siding Spring
Jul 28, 1985
Infra-red radiation, often termed 'heat', is an important part of the total range of wavelengths now being studied by astronomers. Striking results have been obtained at the Sidin
Mizar
Aug 19, 1985
Mizar, the second star in the 'handle' of the Plough, has a faint companion, Alcor, easily visible with the naked eye. Use a telescope and Mizar is seen to be double; and the brigh
The Computerised Amateur
Sep 8, 1985
Many amateur astronomers have large telescopes but Ron Arbour 's observatory, near Winchester, is exceptional; his 16-inch reflector is computer controlled and is programmed to hun
Red Shift - or Red Herring?
Oct 14, 1985
How large is the universe? Astronomers measure the distances of very remote objects by using spectroscopes, but today there are some doubts as to whether the measurements are relia
The Comet Returns
Nov 12, 1985
Halley's Comet is now back and can be seen with binoculars, and should be visible with the naked eye next month. Patrick Moore talks to Douglas Arnold (photographing the comet); B
How Wrong We Were
Dec 15, 1985
The science of astronomy is thousands of years old. Yet only in the last few decades have astronomers made discoveries that have proved the old theories wrong. Venus has no water -