JOIN USBritish astronomer Patrick Moore, renowned for his work mapping the Moon's surface, died today at the age of 89, his friends and staff announced.
The eccentric astronomer "passed away peacefully at 12:25 pm (1225 GMT)", at his home in Selsey on the southern English coast, they said in a statement.
"After a short spell in hospital last week, it was determined that no further treatment would benefit him, and it was his wish to spend his last days in his own home."
Moore fronted the monthly BBC programme "The Sky At Night" since 1957, making him the world's longest-running presenter of the same television show.
He believed he was the only person to have met Orville Wright, the first man to fly; Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space; and Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon.
Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 2001 for "services to the popularisation of science and to broadcasting".