Looking Up

Gerhard Swart of the SKA talks to Kechil about South Africa's electric car.

Kathryn Rosie, Mechanical Engineer at SAAO describes the building of Hera, a radio telescope.

John Woodland describes Follow That Star, an upcoming musical performance.

Dr Danièl Groenwald, Astronomy Operations Manager at SALT, talks Kechil through the future of the Southern African Large Telescope.

The Southern African Large Telescope marks its 20yr anniversary. Dr Encarni Romero Colmanero describes the highlights of its discoveries.

What happens in-between the galaxies? Prof Todd Tripp explains.

A private remote observatory in South Africa: Prof Peter Dunsby talks about his astrotourism project.

Humans do strange things, like sending weird stuff into space.

3 comets are visible in our skies

Are we bobbing about on a sea of low frequency gravitational waves?

Looking Up 1,000! Prof Jessica Dempsey is the upcoming Director General of the Square Kilometer Array, one of the biggest science projects in the world. She talks to Kechil about her new role.

Masters student Kira Hanmer talks about mysterious Fast Radio Bursts.

The Mars Perseverance rover - has it found evidence of life?

Dr Sushant Dutta performs post-mortems of radio galaxies. He explains why to Kechil.

A terrible description of molecular hydrogen in the early universe. Plus a lunar eclipse on 7th September.

A few years ago scientists went hunting for stars made from anti-matter. What did they find?

Australia and South Africa are the locations of the massive Square Kilometre Array radio telescope. Karen Lee-Waddell, the director of the Australian SKA Regional Centre talks to Kechil about it.

Dr Anna Bosman, computer scientist at the University of Pretoria, talks to Kechil about using machine learning in astronomy

Do you want to listen to what the JUICE spacecraft heard when it flew by the Earth?

Where is all the matter in the universe? How are Fast Radio Bursts being used to find where it is?

What about Uranus? That cold, distant planet. New research intimates we should send another probe.

Dr Michelle Lochner talks to Kechil about machine learning in astronomy.

FMR's John Woodland is putting on a series of stellar choral concerts called 'The Place of the Stars' with Vox in the Observatory McClean dome and talks to Kechil about it in the dome itself.

Australia and South Africa are set to collaborate closely for decades to come in radio astronomy and here to tell us about it is Dr Karen Lee-Waddell, Director of the AusSRC.

The amazing Vera C Rubin telescope has switched on! South Africa is involved, find out about the biggest camera in the world and what it's going to do.

FMR's John Woodland is putting on a series of stellar choral concerts called 'The Place of the Stars' with Vox in the Observatory McClean dome and talks to Kechil about it in the dome itself.

Professor Oleg Smirnov at Rhodes University and SARAO talks some more to Kechil about the PARROT pulsar.

Distinguished Prof. Oleg Smirnov talks to Kechil about taking radio videos of transients.

The Blue Danube in space! Take a look at https://space.vienna.info/en-US. The European Space Agency is blasting Strauss into the Universe.

What is an AGN? What is an inactive black hole? UCT Phd student Tombo Fitahiana Rarivoarinoro explains.

What's up now that winter's here? There's a nova in Corona Borealis which could go nova soon!

Kechil talks to Nic Erasmus about what to do if asteroids get too close.

In anticipation of the IAA Planetary Defence conference in Stellenbosch 5-9 May, Kechil talks some more about NEOs and how the public can enjoy related events.

Kechil talks to Nic Erasmus about what to do if asteroids get too close.

Would you like to hear the sound of star clusters? They sing a song about the history of our galaxy.

Kechil talks to Sam Wilson, author of The First Murder on Mars about some of the practicalities of living on Mars

Kechil talks to Sam Wilson, author of The First Murder on Mars about how societies and humans may evolve on Mars

Saturn's rings have disappeared! Also - what's a star party?

What are the differences between the northern and southern hemispheres? Barry Linton from the south of England and a member of our local astronomy society, explains.

"The Moon belongs to everyone, the best things in life are free" says the song, but what about Saturn's 128 newly discovered moons? Do we name them all?

Something about attention-grabbing planetary alignments and Blue Ghost

Dr Rosalind Skelton is the new Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory, here in Observatory. She talks to Kechil about her plans for the next few years.

How does an astronomer become an ambassador? Prof Paul Groot describes his task ahead in Chile.

Samples returned from the asteroid Bennu have revealed astonishing news about the potential origins of life of Earth.

Who would've thought that the Graeco-Roman Goddess of Hinges would be revived: she's back now, squeaking away on a quasi-moon. Hear about this, and many other naming conventions.

How do you look at black holes? Kechil talks about the latest plans to launch a cluster of radio telescopes into space to study these monster-gobblers.

Roundup of currently visible planets and the comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) still visible with the naked eye to the right of the Sun as it sets. Also the latest of what's happening with Mars.

New Year on Mars: what might it look like? Plus a roundup of what you can see in the night sky.

Kechil talks to Shamin Doman about one of the exhibits at the new Visitor Centre, which you too can see by booking at www.saao.ac.za

What is time? We only know how to measure it. Kechil canters through the technologies used to do this, including the most accurate clocks associated with local radio telescopes MeerKAT and the SKA.