Stargazing Live is a live

Live television

Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...

 television programme that was broadcast in 2011 for three evenings on BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 between 3 and 5 January, and will be returning in 2012 on 16-18 January. In 2011 it featured scientist and TV presenter Brian Cox

Brian Cox (physicist)

Brian Edward Cox, OBE , is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at...

, comedian and amateur astronomer Dara Ó Briain

Dara Ó Briain

Dara Ó Briain is an Irish stand-up comedian and television presenter, noted for hosting topical panel shows such as The Panel and Mock the Week....

, TV presenter Liz Bonnin

Liz Bonnin

Liz Bonnin is a French television presenter who has worked on television in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. She currently works for the BBC.-Biography:...

 and astronomer Mark Thompson. It was hosted at Jodrell Bank Observatory. It was viewed by 3.62 million people.

The show featured the partial Solar eclipse of January 4, 2011

Solar eclipse of January 4, 2011

The solar eclipse of January 4, 2011 was a partial eclipse of the Sun that was visible after sunrise over most of Europe , northwestern and South Asia. It ended at sunset over eastern Asia...

, a conjunction of Jupiter

Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...

 and Uranus

Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...

, and the Quadrantid

Quadrantids

The Quadrantids are an easily visible January meteor shower.The radiant of this shower is an area inside the constellation Boötes. The name comes from Quadrans Muralis, an obsolete constellation that is now part of Boötes...

 meteor shower

Meteor shower

A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...

. It also featured Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...

 learning how to spot planets, and a discussion with the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

.

Scientific advisors for the programme included Dan Hillier, manager of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh

Royal Observatory, Edinburgh

The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh is an astronomical institution located on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland. The site is owned by the Science and Technology Facilities Council...

, visitor centre.

Following the show, hundreds of Stargazing Live events were run across the UK between 3 and 29 January 2011, including star parties and 'sidewalk astronomy' sessions. The events were organised by various astronomy societies and universities

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

.

The show will be returning on 16-18 January 2012.