BBC Stargazing Live Series 3 back in January 2013

A new series of the BBC’s highly popular TV show Stargazing Live will be aired over three nights from Tuesday the 8th to Thursday the 10th of January, 2013 in the UK.

The shows start at 8:00pm on BBC 2 and BBC HD, this will be the shows third series. Stargazing Live which was first broadcast in 2011 is an astronomy based program that airs live over three consecutive nights.

Personally here at Hobbyings we’d really like to also see a summer series of the BBC show in order to explore the various constellations only visible at that time of year.

That said we are still very grateful to know the BBC has responded to the popularity of Stargazing Live by commissioning series 3.

Due to the shows success, what was originally expected to be a one off series seems to have now become an annual TV event.

The main show and after show Stargazing Live Back To Earth is hosted by physicist Professor Brian Cox and comedian Dara O’Briain. They also feature astronomer Mark Thomson and presenter Liz Bonnin.

In many ways the after show, Back To Earth is even better than the main Stargazing Live show as it’s where the regular presenters and that nights guests simply sit down and chat freely.

You often find the after show has a far more relaxed atmosphere where the various experts address the more theoretical and deeper topics of cosmology.

On the final episode of series 2, live on air we saw the small town of Dulverton, Exmoor turn off all their lights and go completely dark. This was done as an experiment to demonstrate just how much clearer the night sky’s are without any light pollution to interfere.

On that night though, the sky’s over Dulverton were very cloudy which was a shame as it was a great idea which the whole town got behind. It’ll be interesting to see whether they try anything similar in the upcoming new series.

As any astronomer knows who lives in a built up area, light pollution can make a huge difference to what you can or can’t see in the night sky.

Being outdoors in an area free of light pollution on a clear, cloudless night and looking up at the sky above is truly one of the greatest sights there is. Regardless of whether or not your a keen astronomer, just looking up with the naked eye at those thousands of stars, it always feels special.

Stargazing Live always manages to spark a nationwide interest in the night sky each year it’s broadcast with telescope sales rocketing so lets hope for clear skies this January.

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