Patrick Moore 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
Patrick Moore Cox, Jon Culshaw and Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal. It was reported in January 2012 that because of arthritis and the effects of an old spinal injury he was no longer able to operate a telescope. However, he was still able to present "The Sky at Night" from his home. Moore died aged 89 at 12:25 p.m. on 9 December 2012 at his home in Selsey, West Sussex. On 9 December 2014 it was reported that the Science Museum, London had acquired a large collection of Patrick Moore's objects and manuscripts and memorabilia, including "The Sky at Night" scripts, and