“A film about the ‘ongoing renaissance in telescope construction’ may sound like a tough sell, but the combination of stunning photography, mind-boggling science and quaintly prosaic terminology (the biggest telescope in the world is called the VLT – Very Large Telescope) proves irresistible.  In scenes guaranteed never to make you take the accumulation of knowledge lightly again, assorted boffins assemble telescopes while dealing with altitude sickness, film dying stars from the back of a moving jumbo and splash some $6.5 billion in the process.  The fact that they don’t really know what they’ll find out doubles the risk, but also the appeal.”