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The Pale Blue Dot

Episode 4 of 4

Professor Brian Cox reveals how Earth's beauty is created by just a handful of forces. In this episode Brian explains the science behind the colours of the planet.

In this final episode Professor Brian Cox travels to Iceland, where the delicate splendour of a moonbow reveals the colours that paint our world, and he visits a volcano to explain why the sun shines. By exploring how sunlight transforms the plains of the Serengeti, drives the annual migration of humpback whales to the Caribbean and paints the moon red during a lunar eclipse, Brian reveals the colour signature of our life-supporting planet.

Finally, at an observatory high in the Swiss Alps, he shows how these colours aren't simply beautiful, but that understanding how they're created is allowing us to search for other Earths far out in the cosmos.

8 months left to watch

59 minutes

Last on

Sat 2 Apr 2022 09:00
BBC Two

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:13

    Kings of Leon

    Crawl

Credits

Presenter Brian Cox
Executive Producer Andrew Cohen
Series Producer Danielle Peck
Producer Stephen Cooter
Director Stephen Cooter

Broadcasts

  • Mon 25 Jul 2016 21:00
    BBC One
  • Tue 26 Jul 2016 23:50
    BBC One except Wales & Wales HD
  • Wed 27 Jul 2016 00:30
    BBC One Wales HD & Wales only
  • Sat 13 Aug 2016 01:35
    BBC Two
  • Thu 8 Feb 2018 21:00
    BBC Four
  • Fri 9 Feb 2018 02:30
    BBC Four
  • Tue 9 Jul 2019 23:00
    BBC Four
  • Thu 31 Oct 2019 20:00
    BBC Four
  • Sat 27 Jun 2020 08:45
    BBC Two except Scotland
  • Sat 2 Apr 2022 09:00
    BBC Two except Scotland

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