Mercury & the Moon - December 2012

Mercury & the Moon

Patrick's brief contributions to this programme and the Jan 2013 programme were all filmed on Nov 19/20, after which he was back in hospital or simply too frail to take part. Sadly, Patrick would die on Dec 9th, marking the end of an era. He had presented the show for more than 55 years. In this episode Chris Lintott introduces the subject of Mercury, then Patrick & Chris talk to Dr Katie Joy & Dr Dave Rothery, in Patrick's study, about the planet. Chris North then heads to Stevenage to see the BepiColombo probe being assembled where he talks to Dr Jessica Marshall. Back in Patrick's garden Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel are preparing to observe Mercury in the morning sky. They also look at the 'Moore Winter Marathon' objects visible in binoculars. Forty years on from the final Apollo Moon mission, Chris Lintott looks back to 1972 and that Apollo 17 journey, including Patrick's interview with Eugene Cernan filmed in 1982. Dr Katie Joy then rejoins the discussion in Patrick's study, talking about the Moon samples returned by Apollo. Finally, Chris talks about the Total Solar Eclipse that took place on Nov 13/14.
Again, apologies for the premature cut off at the programme end....once again the prog. was broadcast much later than advertised... Typical!
First broadcast on Dec 2nd/3rd 2012.