Sir Patrick Moore RIP :(

[Jason Thompson]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20657939

Sir Patrick Moore has died at home aged 89. There really isn't anything I could say that would do justice to this man, so I won't even try. A sad day indeed.

[SiHart]

Very, very sad to hear.

[Dino]

I'm still shocked to hear about this. Watching The Sky At Night just won't be the same now. Despite that programme's massive significance subject matter.
R.I.P. Sir Patrick Moore.
I like to think he now knows every secret about the universe wherever he is.

[Nyder]

A true legend and one-off gentleman. He'll be sadly missed.

[Dirk Gently]

Truly a sad day. He was one of a kind, a true gentleman.

R.I.P Sir Patrick Moore, you'll always be missed on The Sky at Night.


His maps of the moon were used for the apollo missions; His work made it in to space even if he never did. And he made it in to Doctor Who too.

[Jon Masters]

A great local hero as well as a National one; the South Downs planetarium is on the same site as our school, and all the local schools that use it are greeted by a mannekin of the great man himself.

I'd encourage everyone to read his autobiography - you won't agree with everything he says, but along with Attenborough he was one of the last true Science eccentrics.

Enjoy the cosmos in a new way, Sir P

[Rob McCow]

It's cheesy but you will smile.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Sad, but as I said today, age gets us all in the end. He reached a good age, and most importantly he was still involved in the program that was his passion up until the other week.

He was obviously a huge inspiration on me to study Astronomy - my parents used to get me his books, and subscribe to the Sky At Night newsletters for me. I got to see one of his talks back in 1999 which was pretty impressive.

Part of me feels I should blog about him, but with Neil Armstrong and my Auntie Jill, I feel a bit overkill on the obits.

[Stuart Wallis]

R.I.P. Sir Patrick Moore.
I like to think he now knows every secret about the universe wherever he is.

Well not know, but be in a better position to explore. "We just don't know, but I full intend to find out!"

[Mike Saville]

Very sad news. One of my girls' got some facebook bile about him on her thread- 'good riddance to one more bigot' type thing, with one or two contributors claiming he was a right wing, racist, misogynist'.

It's not the impression I got from watching him. Sure, he undoubtedly had a few anachronistic societal notions, but I'm yet to meet a 90 year old that didn't. It'd be good riddance to a lot of our nans and great uncles.

All I know is he was a remarkable, charismatic man who inspired a lot of us to look up a little more often, to pay attention to the galaxies that appear when you just hold your gaze a little bit longer, and to not only see a bit of magic, but to have a name for it. Good enough for me.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Sad news indeed. Not a complete shock if I'm honest but that doesn't take away how sad it is.
I was into astromony many years ago before a certain blue box kept distracting me. I loved books about the universe and I always used to watch the Sky At Night - even though it was on so late.

I still chuckle when I see him play the vibraphone!

He will be missed

RIP Sir Patrick