:00:15. > :00:20.On today's show, find out how you can get involved in stargazing.
:00:20. > :00:30.Discover why there is an incredible 400,000 pieces of space junk
:00:30. > :00:36.
:00:36. > :00:42.orbiting our earth and how you can Welcome to a special episode of
:00:42. > :00:48.Blue Peter from the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire. Astronomy
:00:48. > :00:53.research has been taking place here since 1945, using telescopes like
:00:53. > :00:58.that one. It works by picking up very faint radio signals coming
:00:58. > :01:03.from objects far across the universe such as galaxies and black
:01:03. > :01:06.holes and exploded stars. It was the first telescope in the world
:01:06. > :01:09.able to track satellites. Stargazing Live is here for three
:01:09. > :01:12.nights. It is a show on BBC Two that shows images from
:01:12. > :01:18.observatories around the globe. Here is a flavour of what they have
:01:18. > :01:21.So far, stargazing presenters Brian Cox and Dara O'Briain have been
:01:21. > :01:24.checking out the moon and looking at some amazing pictures of its
:01:24. > :01:28.surface. This is the face of the moon that
:01:29. > :01:32.we are familiar with. You see the seas and the uplands.
:01:32. > :01:36.They spoke to the last astronaut ever to walk on the moon.
:01:36. > :01:40.Open it up to these young kids and inspire them to dream the
:01:40. > :01:49.impossible and the impossible will happen.
:01:49. > :01:53.We are going to be catching up with Professor Brian Cox soon. Dara, the
:01:53. > :02:03.title stargazing under sells it a bit, it isn't just stars? When you
:02:03. > :02:05.
:02:05. > :02:10.look up and see the dots above you, many aren't stars. One is a huge
:02:10. > :02:14.cloud of gas and dust that that comes together to make more stars.
:02:14. > :02:21.In London you go there is Big Ben, how do you find landmarks in the
:02:21. > :02:25.sky? There are some consolation that is are memorable. The Plough
:02:25. > :02:27.is the one that most people recognise straight off. It is
:02:27. > :02:31.shaped like a frying pan and sometimes it is like that and
:02:31. > :02:36.sometimes more like that, but from the Plough you take the top part of
:02:36. > :02:43.the Plough, the top of the frying pan and follow those two-stars out
:02:43. > :02:47.and then you get to the North Star and when you fin the obvious
:02:47. > :02:53.consolations you jump. It is wonderful that it is up there.
:02:53. > :02:59.Some nights will be better than others. Tonight, we are expecting
:02:59. > :03:09.to be doing stuff, there is time for people to find a planet. It is
:03:09. > :03:13.a simple thing. We have footage of stars and we see the bit where the
:03:13. > :03:17.lighthouse dip as bit. We can see the dip where the thing goes in
:03:17. > :03:21.front of it and if we click on that, we are confident we will find new
:03:21. > :03:24.planets. . It is incredible. Why do you
:03:24. > :03:28.think children should start it get involved with stargazing? What
:03:28. > :03:37.makes it so appealing? You can't just not get caught up with the
:03:37. > :03:42.wonder of it, the epic scale of it. The sun was here, Mars is 40 fields
:03:42. > :03:49.that way and the sheer size, the massive size of it, but yet all
:03:49. > :03:53.visible from here. The moon is spinning around us, but we and the
:03:53. > :04:00.moon are spinning around the sun and we are spinning through the
:04:00. > :04:05.Milk Way and the Milk Way is spinning with the sister galaxy,
:04:05. > :04:09.spinning around the universe. We are flying at unimaginable speeds.
:04:09. > :04:13.It is incredible to think that's going on above our heads and it
:04:13. > :04:17.sounds complicated and you have gases exploding, and Jupiter is
:04:17. > :04:25.over there somewhere. It sounds complicated, but stargazing is so
:04:25. > :04:29.What I know about stargazing is that it needs to be dark. The skies
:04:29. > :04:37.need to be clear and if you go out on a January's evening, you need to
:04:37. > :04:41.make sure you are nice and warm. Whether You are using your eyes or
:04:41. > :04:45.a telescope, I will find out what is there. To get me started is Nick
:04:45. > :04:49.from the European Space Agency. First, let's look at what you can
:04:49. > :04:54.see with the naked eye. Constellations are a great place.
:04:54. > :04:57.If you look to the North, you will see the Plough. It is shaped like a
:04:57. > :05:04.see the Plough. It is shaped like a sauce pan, it is easy to find.
:05:04. > :05:10.In the south, you have got the constellation of Orion.
:05:10. > :05:19.You say Look North and south. It looks like a big bit of space. How
:05:19. > :05:23.get the point where you know you are starting from? A compass. You
:05:23. > :05:28.can You can use these to guide yourself around the sky.
:05:28. > :05:32.Now let's step it up a gear. Nick, I have brought the essential
:05:32. > :05:35.stargazing equipment, hot chocolate, what have you brought? Binoculars.
:05:35. > :05:41.They can really enhance your viewing even more than the naked
:05:41. > :05:45.eye. You can look at the moon. The moon is covered in seas and these
:05:45. > :05:48.are ancient volcanoes and you can see that clearly, but through
:05:48. > :05:52.binoculars, you can see more details. You can see the craters in
:05:52. > :05:56.the moon. You can start start off with
:05:56. > :06:01.binoculars, but they get bigger. have I have brought a small
:06:01. > :06:05.telescope with me and you can pick one of these up for �50. The
:06:05. > :06:07.wonderful thing about telescopes, they enhance your view of the sky,
:06:07. > :06:17.you can see the International Space Station.
:06:17. > :06:27.There is a wonderful website called Heavens Above and you can put in
:06:27. > :06:28.
:06:28. > :06:33.your postcode and it will tell you when the space station is moving
:06:33. > :06:40.overhead. If you were to use a telescope like this, you could see
:06:40. > :06:46.the solar panels. Some telescopes cost millions and,
:06:46. > :06:51.but if you are in the UK, you can get your hands on them free.
:06:51. > :06:56.Through your school, you can log on to a website, which will allow you
:06:56. > :07:00.to operate the telescopes, one in Hawaii and one in Australia. It was
:07:00. > :07:07.here at the University of Glamorgan in Cardiff where a young girl using
:07:07. > :07:10.a computer and internet connection discovered new asteroids and a
:07:10. > :07:14.fragmenting Comet and what is more exciting, she was on work
:07:14. > :07:19.experience. Han narks hi. -- Hannah, hi.
:07:19. > :07:23.Discovering asteroids is all in a day's work for you, isn't it?
:07:23. > :07:28.How did you do it? I was using telescopes to take images of the
:07:28. > :07:33.sky. I was given coordinates like on a satnav, pointing the telescope
:07:33. > :07:37.at a certain region and taking pictures and seeing what I could
:07:37. > :07:42.see. And what did you see? I saw images
:07:42. > :07:46.like this little do. That's an asteroid, that is.
:07:46. > :07:49.An asteroid is a large rocky object that orbits the sun, but it is too
:07:49. > :07:53.small to be considered a planet. Over 500,000 have been discovered,
:07:53. > :07:57.but there are many thousands of smaller ones yet to be found. How
:07:57. > :08:01.significant a find is this? How excited are you about this? For me,
:08:01. > :08:06.it is very exciting. I am one of the youngest to discover something
:08:06. > :08:11.like this, considering there are big organisations all over the
:08:11. > :08:15.globe looking for asteroids that might hit us or not, it turned out
:08:15. > :08:21.out to be more than a life experience than a work experience.
:08:21. > :08:25.If you would like to have a a go, the good news is, you can speak to
:08:25. > :08:33.your teachers and they can register your school and you can have a go.
:08:33. > :08:37.You never know, you might make your How amazing is that? A young girl
:08:37. > :08:41.on work experience discovers new asteroids. If you are going to look
:08:41. > :08:45.at the skies, please don't look at the sun. It is very dangerous. I
:08:45. > :08:51.thought that the Jodrell Bank Observatory was a great place to
:08:51. > :08:56.find stars and I am right, I have found one, it is John Culshaw.
:08:56. > :08:59.Let's talk about stargazing and what it is about, we haven't met
:08:59. > :09:05.Professor Brian Cox yet, but if he were here, what do you think he
:09:05. > :09:09.would say about stargazing and why it is cool? He is disguised at this
:09:09. > :09:12.moment, astrology is the greatest of all the sciences and anyone can
:09:12. > :09:18.try it and it is there, the night sky is there for you to observe and
:09:18. > :09:23.discover. So anyone can embark on, you could go on... It is so good to
:09:23. > :09:29.watch you do it. Not only are we gazing at a star,
:09:29. > :09:32.but a star in our midst. If you can talk to anyone anyone
:09:32. > :09:39.that you have impersonated over the years, which one do you think would
:09:39. > :09:44.make good stargazers. Michael McIntyre. You are so far
:09:44. > :09:47.away. Why does it take Voyager so long to get there.
:09:47. > :09:52.Ozzy Osbourne might be interested in space!
:09:52. > :09:58.He sees it for real most of the time. Perhaps Simon Cowell I think.
:09:58. > :10:04.He would probably set about judging the planets, OK Jupiter, I thought
:10:04. > :10:09.you were a bit big. It is all all a bit gassy. Saturn, I don't think
:10:09. > :10:12.you need the rings. Pluto, you are too small to be a planet. It is a
:10:12. > :10:16.no from me. Thank you.
:10:16. > :10:21.One thing before you go, why is stargazing important to you? Why do
:10:21. > :10:26.you think it is special? Well, I have always been fascinate by it --
:10:26. > :10:32.fascinated by it. It is a beautiful science. You can't fail to be
:10:32. > :10:41.impressed by the majesty of a night sky. Seeing a total eclipse, they
:10:41. > :10:44.are all beautiful wonderful things and they get yourure osity. --
:10:44. > :10:50.curiosity. You need to understand how the
:10:50. > :10:57.Earth, the sun and the moon orbit each other. Here is Gem to tell you
:10:57. > :11:00.We are here at an observatory in East Sussex with a group of superb
:11:00. > :11:05.young astronomers and we are waiting for a challenge to come in.
:11:05. > :11:09.It should be coming any moment. I wondered how the Earth, sun and
:11:09. > :11:12.moon move around each other. People used to think the sun moves around
:11:12. > :11:16.the Earth, but that's not true, is it? It seems like a massive
:11:16. > :11:19.challenge. Are you up for it? ALL: Yes.
:11:19. > :11:23.You have got to get changed to make yourselves look like the Earth, the
:11:23. > :11:26.moon and the sun and I have got to figure out the rest of it! Whilst
:11:26. > :11:36.the kids are getting ready, I am going to mark out a little bit of
:11:36. > :11:38.
:11:38. > :11:48.Now this circular path is the one that the earth is going to have to
:11:48. > :12:00.
:12:00. > :12:06.That's my orbit. Now all I need are So that was the fastest looking
:12:06. > :12:09.solar system I have seen. You guys are going to be an element of the
:12:09. > :12:14.solar system, you two in blue, you are the Earth. How long do you
:12:14. > :12:18.think it takes the Earth to do one rotation, spin on its axis? One day.
:12:18. > :12:23.One day, spot on. That's why it looks as though the sun rises and
:12:23. > :12:28.sets once a day. So come together and start start spinning around. Oh,
:12:28. > :12:33.beautiful. Come on, around you go. Don't disappear into space! It
:12:33. > :12:39.can't be that difficult! The Earth does it all day and never
:12:40. > :12:43.complains. Fantastic, I'm loving that. That's like a day. Nice
:12:43. > :12:47.spinning! Now we need your moon. The moon is smaller than the Earth.
:12:47. > :12:51.It is a lot smaller, but we are going to have one body as the moon.
:12:51. > :12:56.How long do you think it takes you, as the moon, to go all the way
:12:56. > :13:01.around the Earth? A week. A week is not bad. A quarter of the
:13:01. > :13:04.way there. The moon always keeps its same face to the earth. We only
:13:04. > :13:13.ever see one side of the moon. While these guys are turning, you
:13:13. > :13:17.go around with them. Perfect, keep looking at them. Now for the most
:13:17. > :13:20.important body in the solar system, the thing that holds the solar
:13:20. > :13:26.system together - the sun. You go at the centre of the solar system.
:13:26. > :13:32.It is your massive gravity that stops the planets flinging off into
:13:32. > :13:36.outer space. You have an important job. You have to be energetic. Feel
:13:36. > :13:40.free to shout instructions! You are here, providing energy and
:13:40. > :13:44.encouragement. I am going to get out there to these guys. So keep
:13:44. > :13:54.spinning around. Keep spinning and this is your orbit now. You have
:13:54. > :13:56.
:13:56. > :14:04.one year to make it all the way Don't crash into the Earth!
:14:04. > :14:11.# I am so dizzy, my head is spinning hrbg. The Earth is going
:14:11. > :14:16.to burn up. So thought, "No, you're coming too close to the sun."
:14:16. > :14:19.Don't come too close to the sun. You're going to burn up.
:14:19. > :14:23.You're going to burn up planet earth.
:14:23. > :14:32.This is brilliant. Keep going. Keep going. In real life, you are
:14:32. > :14:38.supposed to be going 67,000mph. are coming too close to the sun.
:14:38. > :14:42.Ah, that was good gravity. He have kept them in such a good orbit.
:14:42. > :14:46.We managed it. We have managed to simulate the movement of the
:14:46. > :14:52.planets using just six people. Now, what we have got going on here is
:14:52. > :14:55.the sun is in the centre and its enormous gravity is holding the
:14:55. > :15:01.solar system together, stopping the Earth the Earth drifting out to
:15:02. > :15:06.space. The Earth goes around the sun once a year and the moon goes
:15:06. > :15:13.around the Earth once a month and it goes off in our solar system all
:15:13. > :15:20.the time. I think these fellas have done an amazing job. It is not easy,
:15:20. > :15:23.but I recommend trying it. Best of Still to come, we put your
:15:23. > :15:25.questions to top TV presenter, questions to top TV presenter,
:15:25. > :15:31.Professor Brian Cox. And how you can use a vitamin
:15:31. > :15:35.tablet and water to create your very own mini rocket. Welcome to
:15:35. > :15:37.the control room. This is where all the telescopes at Jodrell Bank
:15:37. > :15:43.Observatory are operated. Watch what happens when I press this
:15:43. > :15:47.button. I want one! You may think the sky
:15:47. > :15:53.goes on and on out there, but things are getting more and more
:15:53. > :15:59.cluttered and to find out how big a problem space junk is, we sent
:15:59. > :16:01.someone to find out more. I am an astronomer and I am
:16:01. > :16:06.passionate about everything in space.
:16:06. > :16:14.From stars and planets to galaxies and black holes, it is my job to
:16:14. > :16:19.get as many people as possible interested in what lies in our
:16:19. > :16:22.planet. There is something getting in the way, rubbish. We seem to
:16:22. > :16:29.create a lot of it. Even the countryside is covered in litter.
:16:30. > :16:35.There is a massive area the Pacific Ocean which is known as the Garbage
:16:35. > :16:40.Patch because it is covered in so much waste. It seems we are making
:16:40. > :16:47.a mess in space. Experts reckon there are nearly 400,000 pieces of
:16:47. > :16:52.space junk orbiting around the Earth. These are fragments of old
:16:53. > :16:56.satellites or rockets. That sounds dangerous to me. So I have come to
:16:56. > :17:06.this observatory to meet someone who likes space, but this guy
:17:06. > :17:06.
:17:06. > :17:10.really knows his space junk! Professor Richard is study effects
:17:10. > :17:15.that space junk is starting to have above our heads. These are the
:17:15. > :17:21.controls for the huge radar dish outside.
:17:21. > :17:28.Yes. Do you want to steer the antenna?
:17:28. > :17:34.Yes. Do you realise that finger is pushing 220 tonnes of metal around?
:17:34. > :17:40.First things first, how bad is this problem? We can track almost 6,000
:17:40. > :17:44.tonnes of objects in space of which only 5% are operational spacecraft.
:17:44. > :17:48.So if there are thousands and thousands of pieces of space junk
:17:48. > :17:52.up there, why is it that satellites aren't hit more often? Space is
:17:52. > :17:57.quite vast, but we believe that collisions are occurring. Recently
:17:57. > :18:02.in 2009, there was a collision between a Russian defunct
:18:02. > :18:05.spacecraft and an operational spacecraft operated by the US.
:18:05. > :18:11.That produced thousands and thousands of fragments.
:18:11. > :18:16.We will not be able to see those fragments, but I want to find out
:18:16. > :18:23.what satellites are above us now. I can see a map of the world. What
:18:23. > :18:27.are these little dots? Each of these dots represents a satellite
:18:27. > :18:31.in the constellation of mobile phone satellites.
:18:31. > :18:37.Space junk is a problem for things up in space, but can it cause
:18:37. > :18:41.problems down here on earth as well? We rely on space for so many
:18:41. > :18:45.things, navigation in our cars and communications with mobile phones.
:18:45. > :18:49.There is a lot of stuff up there in space. Does any of it fall back
:18:49. > :18:54.down to earth? Everything that we launch into space around the Earth
:18:54. > :18:59.will come back towards us. A good example is a fuel tank. This is a
:18:59. > :19:02.titanium tank from a satellite and these are found in deserts and
:19:02. > :19:06.washed up by the ocean because they have fall noon the water and
:19:06. > :19:13.floated to a nearby shore. Recently there was a satellite that came
:19:13. > :19:17.back to earth. Now most of the satellite burnt out on re-entry,
:19:17. > :19:20.but some of it survive. No one was injured when it landed.
:19:20. > :19:23.No one has been hurt by falling space junk.
:19:23. > :19:27.Is there anything we can do about the stuff that's up there? There
:19:28. > :19:31.are suggestions about how we can develop a space space vacuum
:19:31. > :19:36.cleaner. There are opportunities to use solar sails, that can bring
:19:36. > :19:40.satellite back. So it drags it back to earth?
:19:40. > :19:45.Literally. The best solution is not to put so
:19:45. > :19:49.much junk up there? That's right. Our humans need to learn from our
:19:49. > :19:57.mistakes and stop making a mess because having to clean it up
:19:58. > :20:01.I guess the most exciting part about stargazing is that you get to
:20:01. > :20:05.talk to legends like Professor Brian Cox. Hello.
:20:05. > :20:09.So you are a professor, that means you know a lot of stuff about a lot
:20:09. > :20:12.of things. With the universe being your subject, you guess you are
:20:12. > :20:16.learning and discovering new things? That's the point of science.
:20:16. > :20:18.The point of science is to go and standing on the edge of your your
:20:18. > :20:26.knowledge and look out into the unknown.
:20:26. > :20:30.I am going to talk you through the questions sent in. Indigo Reading
:20:30. > :20:35.Silkworm says how hot is the centre of the earth and why is it that
:20:35. > :20:43.temperature? I don't know the exact temperature, but hot enough, it is
:20:43. > :20:47.heat that has been trapped for 4.5 billion years.
:20:47. > :20:52.Appetite Wintry Camel says, "Hi Brian, me and my family love
:20:52. > :20:57.watching your programmes. If you were able to spend a day with any
:20:57. > :21:02.celebrity, who would it be?". a lot of requests. Recently, the
:21:02. > :21:07.two celebrities I have been talking to, Gary Barlow tweeted me from
:21:07. > :21:11.Take That and said he was into the programmes and he would learn about
:21:11. > :21:16.stargazing and the other person was general ter Saunders who --
:21:16. > :21:20.Jennifer Saunders who tweeted and says she loves this stuff. You find
:21:20. > :21:25.out that everybody is interested actually which is a wonderful thing.
:21:25. > :21:29.Another viewer says, "My five-year- old brother says where do the stars
:21:29. > :21:33.go in the day time?". Well, they are still there. The stars are
:21:33. > :21:39.shining out, but you can't see them because the sun is so bright.
:21:39. > :21:43.Another viewer says, "Hi Brian, you are my idle, you have inspired me
:21:44. > :21:49.to get stargazing, every night I have been hoping for a clear sky.
:21:49. > :21:57.My mum and I have been fascinated by the moon's craters, do you know
:21:57. > :22:02.what causes them?". They are caused by meteorite impacts. The reason
:22:02. > :22:06.you don't see them is because they have been eroded by the weather and
:22:06. > :22:10.the shifting of the Continents and the oceans. It is one of the
:22:10. > :22:15.reasons that we are interested in the moon, it is like a fossil from
:22:15. > :22:20.the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
:22:21. > :22:25.Another viewer says, "My dad brought me a telescope. My question
:22:25. > :22:29.is, I know it is not sciency, do you like the flying saucer sweets?".
:22:29. > :22:33.Do I like the flying saucer sweets? I have never had one.
:22:33. > :22:38.Are you kidding? Yeah. You know what they are? They have
:22:38. > :22:43.fizzy stuff inside. No, I have had one, but years and
:22:43. > :22:49.years ago and I do like them. Yeah, fizzy, flying saucer sweets.
:22:49. > :22:55.Final question from another viewer, "if you could go to any planet,
:22:55. > :22:58.which planet would it be?". I think I would go to Mars because we are
:22:58. > :23:02.beginning to suspect there might be life there.
:23:02. > :23:08.As far as development goes and things that are exciting, look out
:23:08. > :23:11.for Mars? We are on our way to Mars. There is a lot of missions going
:23:11. > :23:18.there with the intention of finding life.
:23:18. > :23:23.If you didn't get a chance to sen a question -- send a question in,
:23:23. > :23:28.don't worry, Professor Brian Cox is doing a web chat tomorrow.
:23:28. > :23:32.It is all very well deciding what planet you want to go to, but you
:23:32. > :23:38.need to get there, you will need a rocket. To fly the rocket, you need
:23:38. > :23:43.to know how it works. We asked Gem I have made a fair few rockets and
:23:43. > :23:49.some of them have been scary. We need some little camera film cases.
:23:49. > :23:56.We need water. We need some fizzy vitamin tablets and probably some
:23:56. > :24:06.card and scissors. Do you reckon you can get that? We can get them.
:24:06. > :24:16.
:24:16. > :24:19.How does it actually work? This water and these tablets, they
:24:20. > :24:23.combine together to make the fuel of the rocket. Now when the tablets
:24:23. > :24:29.get dropped in water, they start fizzing and that fizzing is them
:24:29. > :24:34.giving off gas. A gas called carbon dioxide. If we confine that inside
:24:34. > :24:39.here, then the gas pressure keeps building up. When the gas pressure
:24:39. > :24:49.gets sufficiently high, bang, it bursts the launchpad off, and your
:24:49. > :25:01.
:25:01. > :25:05.So we have got amazing looking rockets now. But it is the moment
:25:05. > :25:11.of truth. We have got to see how they fly. You have got to take the
:25:11. > :25:14.bottom off your rocket, then you get your fuel tablet, break it up
:25:14. > :25:22.into little pieces and then you decide what is the right amount of
:25:22. > :25:26.fuel to put in. All of it. You put the lot in. Oh my life. I'm staying
:25:26. > :25:29.at this end of the table. The next thing, you have to decide how much
:25:29. > :25:35.water you put in. The water reacts with the rocket fuel to produce the
:25:35. > :25:38.gas, the other, it provides the weight, the mass for the rocket to
:25:39. > :25:43.throw out the energy to throw itself forwards.
:25:43. > :25:48.Yours is going to go off quick, I reckon. You don't want to be losing
:25:48. > :25:58.that power so make sure your lid is handy as quickly as possible put
:25:58. > :26:00.
:26:00. > :26:04.the lid on and jam it closed. Turn The gas is forced out of the bottom
:26:05. > :26:10.of the rocket. This creates an opposite upward force called thrust.
:26:10. > :26:13.Our home-made rockets work on a similar principle, creating thrust.
:26:13. > :26:19.Is everybody ready to fuel up their rockets? This is crucial that we
:26:19. > :26:27.get this right. Ready? Three, 2-1 - lid on.
:26:27. > :26:37.I have done it. I have done it.
:26:37. > :26:40.
:26:40. > :26:50.Oh, look at that one. Yes!
:26:50. > :26:53.
:26:53. > :26:55.There you go, Barney, you wanted us to build a rocket and we have we
:26:55. > :27:02.have built loads of them. They are not difficult that. You can make
:27:02. > :27:12.them at school, you can make at home, but launch them outside, and
:27:12. > :27:19.
:27:19. > :27:22.So that's it from Jodrell Bank Observatory. I hope you have
:27:22. > :27:27.enjoyed yourself and learned a lot about the solar system and the
:27:27. > :27:31.planets. Watch Stargazing Live tonight on BBC Two at 8pm and you
:27:31. > :27:33.can download the activity cards on can download the activity cards on
:27:33. > :27:36.the website. All that's left for you to do is to