Ancient Skies

About the Show

With breathtaking CGI, beautiful landscape footage and some of the world’s most important astronomical artifacts, Ancient Skies looks at the cosmos through the eyes of our ancestors, charting our changing views of the cosmos throughout history. We take a journey through past visions of the heavens from all over the world, and from the dawn of civilization to the recent past.

From hunter-gatherers to Edwin Hubble, we’ll see the myriad of ways that we have observed and chronicled the movements of the heavens. And with a cast of expert historians and astronomers, we explain the science behind the phenomena that our ancestors sought to explain through mythology.

Throughout the series, we use cutting-edge animation to demonstrate our ever-evolving understanding of how the universe works and our place in an ever-expanding cosmos.

Episode 1 | Gods and Monsters

In this episode we explore the origins of our relationship with the skies. From our earliest ancestors we discover how we used the skies to navigate and tell time, and how we gave religious significance to the things we saw in it. We finish on the cusp of a revolution that gave birth to modern science.

Episode 2 | Finding the Center

Episode 2 charts efforts to give the earth a shape and a place. From flat earth legends to Galileo’s telescope, this episode tracks major changes in our scientific understanding. Ideas will rise and fall as we continue to explore our ancient skies.

Episode 3 | Our Place in the Universe

In Episode 3, we complete the puzzle of our ancient skies. A cast of scientific pioneers reshape our solar system and get to grips with a growing universe. We develop new technology to explore its furthest reaches and wonder whether we’re alone.