Movies: Astronomy

This movie explores the saga of the telescope over 400 years - the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and failures....

A short documentary interviewing an astronomer....

In our terrestrial view of things, the speed of light seems incredibly fast. But as soon as you view it against the vast distances of the universe, it's unfortunately very slow. This animation illustrates, in realtime, the journey of a photon of ligh...

When a young man drops out of school to care for his agoraphobic mother he too finds himself increasingly insulated from the outside world....

A dream Sci-Fi, set in Michael's world. The Astronomer and his Apprentice must make connection, but with whom and where? Where are they and will they listen? In a film about being trapped, togetherness and the hope the two can bring, will this dream ...

THE CITY DARK is a feature documentary about the loss of night. After moving to NYC from rural Maine, filmmaker Ian Cheney asks a simple question - do we need the stars? - taking him from Brooklyn to Mauna Kea, Paris, and beyond. Exploring the threat...

Martinique Island, 1974. Inspired by the writings of the Martiniquais poet and politician Aimé Césaire (1913-2008), the dreamer Robert Saint-Rose, known as Zétwall (Star in Creole), aspires to be the first Frenchman to step on the lunar surface....

A film about astronomy which also happens to show views of the ancient city of Winchester, before focussing on a particular house in the suburbs with its own observatory....

What forms might life take in the Solar System and beyond? In the Academy's newest original planetarium show, see how a deeper understanding of Earth might help us locate other living worlds, light years away....

The loss of the Bill E. Gordon radio telescope has left a void in the world of radio science, the mountains that cradled it, and the hearts of many visitors and enthusiasts who appreciated the beautiful engineering marvel. It’s a difficult time for t...

A team of international scientists attempt to document the first-ever image of a black hole....

The Sun was born way before Man existed. What exact role did the Sun play in the emergence of life and Mankind? When did Humanity identify it? Then deify it? At what point did Man want to understand it? When and how was the Sun used by Man? The Sun ...

A biography of Nicholas Copernicus covering 50 years of the astronomer's life - from his studies in Europe to his theological work all the way to the creation of his magnum opus, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres....

Part of the Almost Famous series. Jocelyn Bell was a graduate student at Cambridge in 1967 when she pushed through the skepticism from her superiors to make one of the greatest astrophysical discoveries of the twentieth century. While Jocelyn was bel...

Documentary about the Griffith Observatory, shown at their Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater...

Orson Welles — with contributions from scientists George Wald, Carl Sagan, and others — examines the possibility and implications of extraterrestrial life. In examining our perceptions of alien 'martians' from his "War of the Worlds" broadcast, to th...

The story of Benjamin Banneker, the early American patriot whose achievements rival those of Benjamin Franklin!! Risking his life, working with the Underground Railroad to elude vicious slave catchers!...

Blue Peter presenters Helen Skelton and Barney Harwood want to learn more about the solar system so they challenge scientists Helen Czerski and Jem Stansfield to find out more. They look at how to make telescopes and rockets, and use a toilet roll to...

In a feast of colours and sounds, Mayan Archaeoastronomy: Observers of the Universe makes a tour of 6 Mayan temples: San Gervasio, Chichen Itzá, Uxmal, Edzná, Palenque and Bonampak where the spectator dives into a Mayan world of knowledge about the i...

A series of programs designed for the adult layman who has a curiosity about the skies and the makeup of the universe in which we live. The terms used during the series are fully explained and materials from a number of great observatories and instit...