Moon Mysteries

Drifting further from Earth, the Moon has created seasons, the 24-hour day, tides and perhaps even influenced evolution. Is the moon powerful enough to trigger natural disasters? Can the moon influence human behavior? This documentary puts a tightly-focused lens on the mysteries of the moon.




Without the moon in its regular orbit around the planet, would life exist on Earth? Or would the climate teeter between cataclysmic extremes? Today, the moon shines brightly in the night sky from about a quarter of a million miles away.

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When it first formed though, it was 15 times closer to Earth and its gravity had a tremendous influence on the planet. Slowly drifting further away from Earth, the moon has reshaped the world. It created seasons, the 24-hour day, tides and may have even influenced the evolution of life here on Earth.

The Day the Earth Nearly Died

250 million years ago, long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, the land and oceans teemed with life. This was the Permian, a golden era of biodiversity that was about to come to a crashing end. Within just a few thousand years, 95% of the lifeforms on the planet would be wiped out, in the biggest mass extinction Earth has ever known. What natural disaster could kill on such a massive scale? It is only in recent years that evidence has begun to emerge from rocks in Antarctica, Siberia and Greenland.




The demise of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago (at the so-called K/T boundary), was as nothing compared to the Permian mass extinction. The K/T event killed off 60% of life on Earth; the Permian event 95%. Geological data to explain the destruction have been hard to find, simply because the rocks are so old and therefore subject to all kinds of erosion processes. It seems plausible that some kind of catastrophic environmental change must have made life untenable across vast swathes of the planet.

In the early 1990s, the hunt for evidence headed for a region of Siberia known as the Traps. Today it's a sub-Arctic wilderness but 250 million years ago, over 200,000km² of it was a blazing torrent of lava. The Siberian Traps were experiencing a 'flood basalt eruption', the biggest volcanic effect on Earth. Instead of isolated volcanoes spewing out lava, the crust split and curtains of lava were released. And the Siberian flood eruption lasted for millions of years. Could volcanic activity over such a long time alter the climate enough to kill off 95% of life on Earth?

Crater of Death

This is the profile of an extraterrestrial mass murderer: one whose existence was denied by scientific orthodoxy for nearly two decades, but has now been tracked down. 65 million years ago a 15km wide asteroid hit the Earth. In 1978 Walter Alvarez, a Nobel-prize-winning physicist, and his son Luis, first proposed the outrageous idea that a meteorite strike blasted the dinosaurs into extinction, taking with them half of life on the planet.




Their theory was hotly disputed. Now the irrefutable evidence is rolling in. Martin Belderson's dramatic film retraces the hunt for evidence for the hidden 'smoking cannon': the crater left by the impact 65 million years ago. In 1991 it was found, buried beneath the coastline of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The central crater is at least 180km wide and nearly 20km deep. The outer impact rings may stretch to 300km in diameter, making it the largest crater produced in the inner solar system in the last four billion years. But did it cause extinction?

The fossil record seemed to show a gradual decline and extinction of animals like the dinosaur before the line of the impact. The in-fighting forced many scientists to re-examine their fossil beds. What they discovered has overturned the orthodoxy and led to a new understanding of how extinction works, and why some species survived whilst others vanished. Alvarez, father and son, have finally been vindicated.

A Comet's Tale

Although believed to be gods by many ancient civilisations, who saw them as bringers of life or harbingers of doom, to Isaac Newton they were the key to unlocking the secrets of gravity. Hundreds of years later, a new breed of space mission can show what comets are really made of, where they come from, and their surprising influence on events on Earth.




A rare chance to see space agency footage as a comet strikes Jupiter and is caught on camera. In one of the biggest explosions that have ever been witnessed, scientists discuss the theoretical impact of a relative blast on Earth.

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Nukes in Space

Boasting material that was recently declassified, this documentary presents some startling material about how the United States detonated a number of atomic bombs in space during a top-secret cold war weapons program. The history of military rockets is detailed, beginning with the Nazi V2 rockets that attacked England late in World War II.




The problems encountered in the America's cold war rocketry program is dramatically illustrated with a film montage of U.S. missiles spectacularly blowing up on their launch pads. After the Soviets launched Sputnik, America's resolve to be able to wage war in space stiffened, and test detonations of atomic weapons in space began. The effects of these little-known tests were bizarre and included electromagnetic disturbances that blew fuses in Hawaii while creating beautiful, if dangerous, artificial auroras that gave the tests the nickname of the "Rainbow Bombs."

Of particular interest in this documentary are tapes of White House meetings at which President John F. Kennedy and his top science and military advisers discussed the atomic tests in space. The bomb detonations caused radiation problems in space, damaging fledgling communications satellites, and the government eventually called an end to the program. This is an entertaining and very informative look at a piece of cold war history that seems like vintage science fiction, yet it's all real.

Astrospies

Thanks to Simon for suggesting this documentary.

Millions remember the countdowns, launchings, splashdowns, and parades as the U.S. raced the USSR to the moon in the 1960s. But few know that both countries also ran parallel space programs, whose covert goal was to launch military astronauts on spying missions. In this program, NOVA delves into the untold story of this top-secret space race, which might easily have turned into a shooting war in orbit.




Coproduced by investigative journalist James Bamford, acclaimed best-selling author of The Puzzle Palace and Emmy Award-winning producer Scott Willis, "Astrospies" uncovers new clues about the tensest period of the Cold War, when the U.S. and USSR were on the verge of war and desperate for intelligence on each other's nuclear capabilities.




In the U.S., the Air Force-run program was given the cover name Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The public was informed only that the project involved placing military astronauts in space to conduct scientific research. But in reality, as the MOL pilots themselves tell NOVA, their actual mission was far different—although even they were kept in the dark at first.

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Thunderbolts of the Gods

Thanks to Andreas for suggesting this documentary - Thunderbolts of the Gods introduces the reader to a former age of planetary instability and earthshaking electrical events, and offers a revolutionary synthesis of historical investigation and the newly discovered Electric Universe. Solar system cosmic upheaval occurred so recently as to have profoundly affected early human cultures, provoking incomprehensible myths, symbols, and commemorative practices.




Through a synthesis of ancient testimony, high-energy plasma experiments, and space age discoveries, the authors bring the ancient world to life. If their hypothesis is correct, it will surely alter many paths of scientific investigation as well. The little-known study of powerful electrical discharges in plasma is a new and exciting development in plasma cosmology , with profound implication for space age astronomy.

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To advance their case, the authors present side-by-side comparisons of laboratory plasma experiments and globally recurring symbols of the ancient sky. The evidence, they report, shows an ancient obsession with extremely violent electrical discharge formations in the heavens.

There are some pretty controversial ideas put forth in this documentary...what do you think? Click here to visit the official website.

Jupiter - The Giant Planet

As the earth churns ominously with the effects of global warming, this is a revealing and prescient journey into the heavens. From the planets to the stars and out to the edge of the unknown, history and science collide in this epic exploration of the Universe and its mysteries.




In ‘Jupiter’, we journey half a billion miles from the earth’s surface to a mini solar system of over 60 moons rotating around a powerful planet of gas. Its flowing colours and spots hold strange beauty, but contain violent storms and jet streams.

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Could this big, bright ball of turbulent weather have been the star of Bethlehem? Could one of its moons harbour life beneath its icy crust? Jupiter, the giant planet, is the king of many questions concerning our solar system and could possibly hold the answers.


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The Outer Planets

New discoveries regarding the Outer Planets are creating a fundamental rethinking of our solar system. Uranus is a toxic combination of hydrogen, helium and methane. Scientists speculate that the planet was knocked on its side after colliding with another body.




Neptune's largest moon, Triton, is cold and barren, but some scientists speculate that liquid water might exist under Triton's icy surface. If this is proven true, Triton could be the home to one of the biggest discoveries of all time. Cold and inhospitable, Pluto completes one orbit around the solar system every 248 years.

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Cutting-edge computer graphics are used to bring the universe down to earth to show what life would be like on other planets, and to imagine what kind of life forms might evolve in alien atmospheres.

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The Inner Planets Mercury & Venus

This documentary takes a fascinating new look at a very old universe. Fifty years after man first ventured into outer space, we examine the greatest secrets of the heavens. Each episode outlines how humans have explored the universe, and scrutinises the discoveries they have made.



As the earth churns ominously with the effects of global warming, this is a revealing and prescient journey into the heavens. From the planets to the stars and out to the edge of the unknown, history and science collide in this epic exploration of the Universe and its mysteries.




Scorched by their proximity to the sun, Mercury and Venus are hostile worlds; one gouged with craters from cosmic collisions and the other a vortex of sulphur, carbon dioxide and acid rain. In this instalment, we delve into the mysteries of these two magnificent planets.

Prime examples of planets gone awry, do they serve as a warning for ominous scenarios that might someday threaten Earth? Cutting-edge computer graphics are used to show what life would be on other planets and to imagine what kind of life forms might evolve in alien atmospheres.

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Saturn - Lord of the Rings

With its famous rings, Saturn is the most distant planet clearly visible to the naked eye. But how did the rings get there and when were they formed? To study the planet in detail, scientists needed to get closer. So on 15 October 1997, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched.

The Cassini-Huygens is one of the most ambitious spacecraft ever launched, taking seven years to reach Saturn. The mission itself consists of two separate probes. The first is the enormous Cassini probe, designed to gather information about all aspects of the Saturnian system, from its many rings to its 33 moons. The second is the Huygens probe, a smaller wok-shaped craft, attached to the side of Cassini. Its task is to plunge through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest and most mysterious moon.

The project is a joint NASA, European Space Agency (ESA) and Italian Space Agency venture. It has cost $3.27 billion and involves over 17 countries. It was inspired by another successful mission- the launch of the two Voyager Deep Space probes. These left Earth in 1977, and arrived separately at Saturn in 1980 and 1981. They sent back revolutionary data, changing what scientists thought about the Saturnian system.

They revealed that Saturn's rings are far more complex and dynamic than any one had ever imagined. They also suggested that the rings had been formed after the planet itself. Why? And how old were they? But the Voyager probes had to move on, past Uranus and Neptune and beyond, leaving these fundamental questions about the rings unanswered.

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Beyong the Big Bang

In this stunning documentary, we examine one of history's greatest questions: where do we begin? The greatest paradox perhaps of all time, is that of the entire universe. It is that the order and tranquillity with which we live, has sprung from the chaos of the ‘Big Bang’. Throughout history, great minds have peered into the unknown in search of order, logic, and the answers to where we began.




We have steadily learned to decipher the cosmic clues of how we came to be; we have stepped from revelation to revelation, and from epiphany to epiphany. Aristotle demonstrated that the world was round. Ptolemy conceived of a system of planets, stars and sun.




Copernicus placed the sun at the centre of this system, and Galileo confirmed it. Newton explained what held it all together. Einstein offered insight into what fuelled it. Hubble proposed it started with a ‘Big Bang’. Our infinite quest for the answers has undoubtedly helped our evolution as thinking creatures, and the ‘Big Bang’ is elementary to this quest.




This extraordinary programme charts the history of why and how we think about who and what we are. We will contemplate how various cultures believe the world began and how it will all end. For the first time, we'll be able to see what it might have all looked like, sitting in God's front row seats. Using unprecedented cutting edge animation, we recreate the amazing moment when everything started.

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With interviews from the world's leading physicists, engineers, and historians, we explain complex and confusing ideas in a clear and accessible manner. Recreations, visual metaphors and first-person accounts will explain concepts such as the formation of galaxies, the existence of other dimensions and the idea of a parallel universe.

Galileo's Battle for the Heavens

In this two-hour special, we celebrate the story of the father of modern science and his struggle to get Church authorities to accept the truth of his astonishing discoveries. The program is based on Dava Sobel's bestselling book, Galileo's Daughter, which reveals a new side to the famously stubborn scientist—that his closest confidante was his illegitimate daughter, Sister Maria Celeste, a cloistered nun.

The actor Simon Callow plays Galileo in dramatic reenactments of key moments from his life: his pioneering telescopic observations of the Moon and planets, his revolutionary experiments with falling objects, and his fateful trial before the Inquisition for heresy.

Born in 1564, Galileo lived a generation after Nicolas Copernicus published his controversial theory that the Earth was not the center of the universe around which the heavens revolved. Galileo supported the idea that the Earth turned on its axis and that it, along with the planets, revolved around the sun. The view was considered absurd by most scholars since it contradicted certain passages in the Bible and challenged the commonsense experience of the Earth as a solid, unmoving object.

But Galileo found merit in the idea, especially after he aimed a newly invented instrument called the telescope at the night sky and saw that the Moon and planets were far from the perfect realms accepted by the Catholic Church. His discovery of moons orbiting Jupiter and phases in the appearance of Venus, analogous to the phases of the Moon, supported the Copernican view.

The Church insisted that Galileo couch his speculations in hypothetical terms only. But he stepped over the line in 1632 when he published his Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, in which a simpleton mouths the views of the then-reigning pope, Urban VIII. This was too much for the Pope, and Galileo was hauled before the Inquisition, which had tortured and burned to death malefactors for far less.

Galileo's clash with the Vatican put Sister Maria Celeste in an awkward position, but she continued to correspond and meet with her father and even served as his editor.

Though his life was spared, Galileo was put under house arrest, and the Dialogue was banned. But it was a Pyrrhic victory for the Church. Galileo's arguments eventually "won the war" for the Copernican theory, making it intellectually respectable to believe that the Earth in fact moves, says Harvard professor Owen Gingerich.

Part One

Part Two

Previously an obscure branch of philosophy, science was now on the road to becoming the preeminent method for discovering how the world works—thanks to Galileo.

Visit the official site here.

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The Biggest Things in Space

We cannot compare anything on earth to the largest things known in space. The Lymann Alpha blob is a bubble-like structure containing countless galaxies, perhaps the biggest object in the entire universe.




Regions of radio-emitting gas, called radio lobes, could be even bigger. Then there are super galaxy clusters, which are hundreds of galaxies merged together due to cosmic collisions.

In this documentary we discover which is the largest planet, star, star cluster, constellation, black hole, void, volcano, galaxy, explosion, moon, storm and impact crater in space.

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Bye Bye Planet Pluto

In August 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.




The evidence against Pluto had been mounting ever since its discovery in 1930. For decades, Pluto was simply the runt of the solar system, drifting 40 times further from the Sun than our Earth, and just 1/500th of the size. Then some astronomers suggested that Pluto might not be alone. And in 1992, they discovered that Pluto was part of an asteroid belt.

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But things really came to a head on 5 January 2005, when Professor Mike Brown and his team at Caltech discovered an object on the far reaches of our Solar System - and it was bigger than Pluto. The pressure was on for the International Astronomical Union to decide whether this was our '10th planet' and if not - what did this mean for Pluto? It turned out they had to come up with a definition of a planet first...

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The Moon

A fascinating documentary by the BBC looking at the human race's relationship with the Moon, starting with elaborate rock formations to map its movements - through to the Apollo missions which explored it.




The documentary also looks at other planet's moons, such as Jupiter's Titan and ice covered Europa, which is the best bet for life out side of Earth in the Solor System. It ends with the future plans of NASA to build a habitat on the moon, along with other organisations which also plan to land & live on our closest celestial body.

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Cosmos - Carl Sagan

When Cosmos was first broadcast in 1980, our world--and the context of Carl Sagan's eloquent "personal journey"--was a different place. The late Dr. Sagan would be pleased to witness the cooling of the cold war, the continued exploration of space, and ongoing efforts to curb our destructive dependence on fossil fuels. For Sagan's series is far more than a guided tour through "billions and billions" of stars and galaxies. It remains a profound plea for the unity of humankind, for the recognition that "we are a way for the universe to know itself," with an obligation to know our origin, our place in the universe, and our future potential.

In the course of 13 fascinating hours, Cosmos spans its own galaxy of topics to serve Sagan's theme, each segment deepening our understanding of how we got from there (simple microbes in the primordial mud) to here (space-faring civilization in the 21st century). In his "ship of the imagination," Sagan guides us to the farthest reaches of space and takes us back into the history of scientific inquiry, from the ancient library of Alexandria to the NASA probes of our neighboring planets. Upon this vast canvas Sagan presents the "cosmic calendar," placing the 15-billion-year history of the universe into an accessible one-year framework, then filling it with a stunning chronology of events, both interstellar and earthbound.

From the lives of the stars, to creation theories, functions of the human brain, and the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Cosmos asks big questions. When appropriate, Sagan offers big answers, or asks still bigger--and yes, even spiritual--questions at the boundaries of science and religion. What's most remarkable about Cosmos is that it remains almost entirely fresh, with few updates needed to the science that Sagan so passionately celebrates. It is no exaggeration to say that Cosmos--for all the debate it may continue to provoke--is a vital document for humanity at a pivotal crossroads of our history.

Episode 1: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean

Episode 2: One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue

Episode 3: The Harmony of the Worlds

Episode 4: Heaven and Hell

Episode 5: Blues for a Red Planet

Episode 6: Travellers' Tales

Episode 7: The Backbone of Night

Episode 8: Journeys in Space and Time

Episode 9: The Lives of the Stars

Episode 10: The Edge of Forever

Episode 11: The Persistence of Memory

Episode 12: Encyclopaedia Galactica

Episode 13: Who Speaks for Earth?

Click here for the official Carl Sagan Portal

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The Planets

Employing state-of-the-art computer graphics, unseen space race archive material and first-hand testimony from scientists around the world, The Planets is the most comprehensive and spectacular account of space exploration and discovery ever made.




Come on an epic journey of discovery with this, the definative guide to our own solar system!

PART ONE - DIFFERENT WORLDS
A look at space travel and the latest planetary explorations.

PART TWO - TERRA FIRMA
The story of the pioneering missions to our neighbouring worlds.

PART THREE - GIANTS
Uncovers the secrets surrounding the massive planets in our Solar System.

PART FOUR - MOON
The answer to one of the greatest mysteries of our Solar System - why does Earth have a moon?

PART FIVE - STAR
The latest scientific advances bring us a new perspective on the Sun.

PART SIX - ATMOSPHERE
A fantastic voyage through the skies of the Solar System.

PART SEVEN - LIFE
A look at the very latest robotic explorations of other planets.

PART EIGHT - DESTINY
How are the planets going to evolve over the next four billion years?

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If We Had No Moon

What would life on earth be like without the moon? Well, chances are, there wouldn't be any life on earth without the moon. Life – if it had started at all – would still be in the earliest stages of evolution.

Scientists use the latest computer simulations to show how an ancient rogue planet – Orpheus – collided with the earth millions of years ago, producing a sizable chunk of debris that eventually became our moon. If that collision had never occurred, we would live in a very different place. Imagine a moon-less weather report – blizzards over the Sahara, floodwaters swallowing the Pyramids, 90-degree temperatures in Antarctica. As the earth wobbles on its axis – unsecured by the moon's gravitational pull – the polar caps would grow and recede at frightening rates. And without the moon, our planet would spin much faster – meaning four-hour days and searing temperatures.

Worse yet, evidence reveals that we are in fact losing our grip on our lunar friend thanks to the ebb and flow of the oceans' tides. Experts reveal theories for salvaging the moon – including hijacking Europa from Jupiter – and demonstrate how we can prepare ourselves for our eventual life without it.

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Lost Horizons - The Big Bang

This documentary was aired on September 7th this year to coincide with the switching-on of the LHC, the world's largest particle accelerator complex, Professor Jim Al Khalili delves into over 50 years of the BBC science archive to tell the story behind the emergence of one of the greatest theories of modern science, the Big Bang.

The remarkable idea that our universe simply began from nothing has not always been accepted with the conviction it is today and, from fiercely disputed leftfield beginnings, took the best part of the 20th century to emerge as the triumphant explanation of how the universe began.

Using curious horn-shaped antennas, U-2 spy planes, satellites and particle accelerators, scientists have slowly pieced together the cosmological jigsaw, and this documentary charts the overwhelming evidence for a universe created by a Big Bang.

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