The Comet's Tale
Documentary about comets. Many ancient civilisations believed comets were gods. Now, space missions can show what comets are really made of and where they come from.
Ancient civilisations thought comets were gods. They believed them to be bringers of life or harbingers of doom - strange, magical, mysterious things that moved through the sky, fiery streaks of light that tore across the heavens.
Isaac Newton was the first to make sense of comets and to him they were the key to unlocking the secrets of gravity - nothing to do with an apple. Hundreds of years later, a new breed of space missions are visiting comets, travelling millions of miles to touch down on these tiny balls of rock flying through space at 20,000 mph. The spectacular images we now have are showing us what comets are really made of, where they come from, and their often surprising influence on events on Earth.
What they reveal is that our ancestors may have been right all along and that comets and meteors really are like gods, or at least they can exert tremendous influence over our world. They have brought terrible destruction to the Earth and may one day do so again. But they also may have brought life itself to the planet.
Last on
Music Played
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Jean Sibelius
Pelleas and Melisande: At The Castle Gate
Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Beecham.
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Narrator | Jack Fortune |
Producer | Michael Lachmann |
Producer | Matthew Barrett |
Broadcasts
- Sun 25 Nov 2007 21:00
- Mon 26 Nov 2007 01:00
- Mon 26 Nov 2007 20:00
- Wed 5 Dec 2007 01:00
- Tue 15 Jan 2008 02:25
- Mon 21 Jan 2008 01:00
- Mon 10 Mar 2008 23:20大象传媒 Two England, Wales (Analogue) & Scotland only
- Mon 10 Mar 2008 23:50大象传媒 Two Northern Ireland (Analogue), Northern Ireland & Wales only
- Sat 7 Jul 2012 22:45
- Wed 18 Jul 2012 20:00
- Wed 18 Jul 2012 23:30
- Sat 3 Aug 2013 19:00
- Sun 4 Aug 2013 01:05
- Thu 8 Aug 2013 00:00
- Sun 18 May 2014 00:10
- Sat 14 Jun 2014 23:30
- Sun 14 Sep 2014 22:30
- Mon 11 May 2015 21:00
- Thu 14 May 2015 23:30
- Thu 7 Apr 2016 01:00
- Sun 11 Sep 2016 21:00
- Mon 26 Jun 2017 00:20
- Sun 12 Aug 2018 23:30