h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

One of my childhood heroes has passed away. I counted him as a friend because he always took phone calls from me and seemed to enjoy our chats about our shared love of astronomy almost as much as I did. I am sorry we never met in person and now never will

Goodnight and God Bless you Sir, I will miss your monthly show which has been a part of my life for as long as I can recall. Thank you for all you taught us and inspiring many, many people to share your passion for the moon and the stars.

Have you considered featuring h2g2's entry on Patrick Moore on the Front Page? A13785816 this Sunday?

and second Z's idea.

I'll 'third' Z's idea for that as well. This is after all the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and where else would you get a road map from?

He was one of life's great characters and was certainly an influence on my interest in astronomy. He could always seem to make a complicated subject look as if it could be handled by an amateur.

I doubt that the Beeb could give up on the 'Sky at Night' as it's still an institution and one of the longest running programs they have. If they do, then I'll write them a stiff letter.

Deke

Bye Bye Patrick Moore



One to beam up Mister Scott.

And I'll fourth.

He's on the Front Page now

Thank you Dmitri

Larger than Life.
Inspiring you and me
You've left your footprint here
And on all astronomy

Thank you Beatrice

Websailor

So sad he's gone, but what a life!

Must write that entry about his Twitmarsh books...

Nice comment today from Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society: "Sir Patrick Moore seemed to know the universe personally."

When I was very small (age 6 or 7), there were three tiny books up on the top shelf of the bookcase, which I decided to read because they were so small, they must be for children. They were "Obverver" books, and one of them was the Observer book of Astronomy:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Observers-Book-Astronomy-Pocket/dp/0723200939

I discovered many years later it was written by Patrick Moore. I wouldn't go so far as to say it got me interested in Astronomy, but it certainly taught me a bit, so that by the time I did become interested, I already had the basics.

I remember the colour pictures of binary stars were particularly striking, although it was only recently when I bought my own telescope and looked at Albireo that I realised what all the fuss was about.

(The other two books were Birds and Insects).

By the way, there should be a nice conjunction of the old moon and Venus tomorrow morning at about 7:00 am. (for all you UK star gazers)

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My Grandma bought me that book for my 11th birthday, Gnomon. I still have it, and my Grandma's inscription is inside the front cover. It provided my first glimpse of the Horsehead Nebula, and now that's in the EG because I wrote about it.

That conjunction tomorrow morning will include Mercury and Saturn. And there's a meteor shower this week with an expected 100 per hour, coinciding with an invisible moon.

When I was arranging the Favourite Children's Authors article, I made sure that he was included. He inspired generations. The Universe seems smaller without him.

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>By the way, there should be a nice conjunction of the old moon and Venus tomorrow morning at about 7:00 am. (for all you UK star gazers)<

Yes, I noticed they were close together on my morning bike ride this morning. A lovely site seeing a crescent moon and venus so close together

I did not know that he once played piano while Abert Einstien accompanied him on violin or that he was once the finance minister for the Monster Raving Loony Party (on the basis they were the only politicians honest enough to admit they were insane)