PLANS to turn Sir Patrick Moore’s home into a museum have been abandoned after two years.

The house will now be sold by current owner, Queen guitarist Brian May, who bought the property shortly prior to the astronomer’s death to provide him with financial security.

Mr May told a national newspaper that concerns over viability and planning permission had exhausted all other avenues for the thatched cottage in Selsey.

Sir Patrick lived at Farthings since 1967, and in his final years even recorded The Sky At Night, the world’s long-running television series to have the same original presenter, from his living room there.

It has been hoped that the house would be turned either into a museum of astronomy or into a study centre in which budding stargazers could take advantage of his extensive collection of telescopes and research materials.

Brian May has now said: “We have all spent the last two years trying to find a way for Farthings to be part of a monument of some kind to Patrick.

"All the proposals we have considered have come to a dead end.

“There is simply no way to make the house sustainable as a study centre, museum or monument."

With no opportunities to create a car park or commercial centre around the house, which is in a residential area, the guitarist said he was advised that it would “simply lose money until it fell into disuse, becoming an embarrassment for Patrick’s memory.”

Mr May now intends to sell the house with “covenant” clauses in the contract so the site cannot be redeveloped.

The unlikely pair forged a friendship over a shared love of astronomy and astrophysics - in which the musician has a doctorate - and towards the end of Sir Patrick's life, Mr May purchased the home and rented it back to Moore for a nominal sum.

The astronomer was famed for his generosity and had made no financial provision for his later life.

Many of Sir Patrick’s possessions were sold at auction last week, with a monocle going for over £600 and one of his treasured xylophones for £1,500.

Rachel Trembath, auctioneer at Henry Adams Auctions in Chichester, said: "I don't think I have ever seen a room so full of people."