page_title: Patrick Moore
section_title: Career in astronomy
hierarchical_section_title: Patrick Moore / Career in astronomy
caption_attribution_description: English: UL40_Box27_Folder25_001
context_page_description: Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore CBE HonFRS FRAS was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter.
  Moore was president of the British Astronomical Association; co-founder and president of the Society for Popular Astronomy; author of over seventy books on astronomy; and presenter of the world's longest-running television series with the same original presenter, BBC's The Sky at Night. He became known as a specialist in Moon observation and for creating the Caldwell catalogue. Idiosyncrasies such as his rapid diction and monocle made him a popular and instantly recognisable figure on British television.
  Moore was also a self-taught xylophonist and pianist, as well as an accomplished composer. He was an amateur cricketer, golfer and chess player. In addition to many popular science books, he wrote numerous works of fiction. He was an opponent of fox hunting, an outspoken critic of the European Union and a supporter of the UK Independence Party, and he served as chairman of the short-lived anti-immigration United Country Party. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
context_section_description: After the war, Moore rejected a grant to study at the University of Cambridge, citing a wish to "stand on my own two feet". He wrote his first book, Guide to the Moon (later retitled Patrick Moore on the Moon) in 1952 and it was published a year later. He was a teacher in Woking and at Holmewood House School in Langton Green from 1945 to 1953. His second book was a translation of a work of French astronomer Gérard de Vaucouleurs (Moore spoke fluent French). After his second original science book, Guide to the Planets, he wrote his first work of fiction, The Master of the Moon, the first of numerous young adult fiction space adventure books (including the late 1970s series the Scott Saunders Space Adventure); he wrote a more adult novel and a farce titled Ancient Lights, though he did not wish either to be published. Moore also translated the book Quanta by J Lochak and Andrade E Silva, published in 1969, from the French.
  While teaching at Holmewood he set up a 12½ inch reflector telescope at his home, which he kept into his old age. He developed a particular interest in the far side of the Moon, a small part of which is visible from Earth as a result of the Moon's libration; the Moon was his specialist subject throughout his life. He claimed to have discovered and named the Mare Orientale (Eastern Sea) in 1946, along with Hugh Percy Wilkins, though he later conceded that German astronomer Julius Heinrich Franz should be credited with the discovery. The feature had been observed several times since telescopic observations began. Moore described the short-lived glowing areas on the lunar surface, and gave them the name transient lunar phenomena in 1968.
  His first television appearance was in a debate about the existence of flying saucers following a spate of reported sightings in the 1950s; Moore argued against Lord Dowding and other UFO proponents. He was invited to present a live astronomy programme and said the greatest difficulty was finding an appropriate theme tune; the opening of Jean Sibelius's Pelléas et Mélisande was chosen and used throughout the programme's existence. The programme was originally named Star Map before The Sky at Night was chosen in the Radio Times. On 24 April 1957, at 10:30 pm, Moore presented the first episode about the Comet Arend–Roland. The programme was pitched to casual viewers up to professional astronomers, in a format which remained consistent from its inception. Moore presented every monthly episode except for one in July 2004 when he suffered a near-fatal bout of food poisoning caused by eating a contaminated goose egg and was replaced for that episode by Chris Lintott. Moore appears in the Guinness World Records book as the world's longest-serving TV presenter having presented the programme since 1957. From 2004 to 2012, the programme was broadcast from Moore's home, when arthritis prevented him from travelling to the studios. Over the years he received many lucrative offers to take his programme onto other networks, but rejected them because he held a 'gentlemen's agreement' with the BBC.
  In 1959 the Russians allowed Moore to be the first Westerner to see the photographic results of the Luna 3 probe, and to show them live on air. Less successful was the transmission of the Luna 4 probe, which ran into technical difficulties and around this time Moore famously swallowed a large fly; both episodes were live and Moore had to continue regardless. He was invited to visit the Soviet Union, where he met Yuri Gagarin, the first man to journey into outer space. For the fiftieth episode of The Sky at Night, in September 1961, Moore's attempt to be the first to broadcast a live direct telescopic view of a planet resulted in another unintended 'comedy episode', as cloud obscured the sky.
  In 1965, he was appointed director of the newly constructed Armagh Planetarium in Northern Ireland, a post he held until 1968. His stay outside England was short partly because of the beginning of The Troubles, a dispute Moore wanted no involvement in. He was appointed Armagh County secretary of the Scout mov
caption: Patrick Moore signing his book "The Astronomy of Birr Castle" at NIHE - 1985
exif: {}