The Sky at Night

In this Sky at Night special, the team talk to Dr Nicola Fox, NASA's head of science, whose life began in the UK.

The Sky at Night is embarking on a journey into the future, as we explore how space will revolutionise life on Earth over the next 50 years. As humanity's reach extends into the cosmos, we face unprecedented challenges, from redefining what it means to be an astronaut, to confronting our own space junk, to dealing with the impact of life in space on our earth-adapted bodies. With privileged early access to a groundbreaking new report from the Royal Society on humanity's future in space, the Sky at Night team are on a mission to find our destiny among the stars – our place in space.

Get ready for The Sky at Night's annual Question Time Special, where viewers get the opportunity to ask the questions they have always wanted answered about our universe.  Join host Dallas Campbell as he leads a panel of experts through a range of fascinating topics.

Regular presenters Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Chris Lintott and George Dransfield are joined by Prof Raman Prinja from University College London and Dr Heloise Stevance from Oxford University. Resident astronomer Pete Lawrence also makes an appearance, sharing a guide to the stars for the coming months and posing an intriguing question of his own.

This year's discussion covers subjects such as the nature of the oldest galaxies – what we're seeing and how we know they're so ancient. We delve into the search for habitable Earth-like planets and the effects of the stars they orbit. And we explore what might happen to Earth and our planetary neighbours when our sun begins the end of its life in billions of years' time. 

The Sky at Night teams up with BBC Ideas to discover the secrets of archaeology and astronomy and to reflect on our ancestral skies.