Farewell Patrick Moore

Like almost everyone with the slightest interest in the skies, Patrick Moore is an important part of my life. I have memories of him going back to the 60s, when his wit, asperity and scintillating intelligence shone as brightly as a supernova. He was always interested in what you could see with the naked eye or a pair of binoculars, making the discipline of astronomy come alive for ordinary folks without access to a powerful telescope.

I met him once, when he was on his way to Mexico to see the great Solar Eclipse of 1991, and  he was every bit as good a raconteur as you might have expected- until he got onto politics, when one suddenly discovered his views were rabidly right wing.

He really only made one mistake in his professional life: when he forecast that Shoemaker-Levy 9 would be a damp squib, "like firing a peashooter at a rhinoceros", I think he said. In the event of course, the impact of that comet into Jupiter was one of the most stunning events of the 20th century. Well, no one gets it right every time.

Patrick should be remembered, not just for his popularisation of astronomy (the "David Attenborough of the skies" you might say), but for the fact that he was a foremost example of that rare breed: the Great British Eccentric. We have few enough of those as it is, and now we have lost one our greatest.

This morning, taking his last piece of advice offered in his last "The Sky at Night" programme last week, I rose before dawn to attempt a view of Mercury rising before the sun. I failed this time, but I will have another chance before too long. Patrick has had his last chance, but he won't be too worried: he's seen so much.