Looking Up

Five minutes at the end of each week explores the big and the small questions in astronomy, cosmology, and space science. Hosted by Kechil Kirkham, no subject is too big or too small, and experts are regularly brought on board to illuminate and excite. Cape Town is the place to be for astronomy, with some of the largest telescopes in the world housed or being built not too far away. Looking Up takes advantage of the shoals of scientists and engineers working on the planet’s most advanced astronomy projects, who live and work right here in the Mother City. Kechil has recently acquired an MPhil in Space Studies at the University of Cape Town, and works in South Africa’s space industry on the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.
Weekly English South Africa Places & Travel
430 Episodes
120 – 140

Looking Up - 09 Sept 22

The James Webb Space Telescope has been at it again, and has found something odd - a star with concentric rings.
9 Sep 2022 4 min

Looking Up - 02 Sept 22

What has the James Webb Space Telescope been up to? It's found carbon dioxide on a far away planet, WASP-39b, and also taken a peek at Jupiter's auroras and rings.
2 Sep 2022 4 min

Looking Up - 26 Aug 22

Gamma-Ray Bursts: Simon de Wet gives us the low-down. Do not get in the beam of a Gamma Ray Burst. Sadly, the only way to avoid this is to leave planet Earth.
26 Aug 2022 4 min

Looking Up - 19 Aug 22

Latest from space: what is the impact on the invasion of Ukraine on the Russian space agency, Roscosmos? What's the latest on the NASA Mars rover? And how is the James Webb Space Telescope doing?
19 Aug 2022 4 min

Looking Up - 12 Aug 22

What does statistics have to do with astronomy? Sydil Kupa of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory tells us what the link is.
12 Aug 2022 5 min

Looking Up - 05 Aug 22

Kechil's colleague at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, Sydil Kupa, enjoys statistics. She tells us why
5 Aug 2022 4 min

Looking Up - 29 July 22

The James Webb Space Telescope's early images are superb. Kehil gives the lowdown on what this magnificent instrument will be up to in the coming years.
29 Jul 2022 5 min

Looking Up - 22 July 22

What was it like being an astronomy back in the day? Dr Robin Catchpole gives a personal account of life at the observatory in Sutherland. Why should astronomers wear a hat? Because it's cold? Well, not quite.
22 Jul 2022 5 min

Looking Up - 15 July 22

Continuing the theme of the history of astronomy in South Africa, Dr Robin Catchpole of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge talks to Kechil about the opening of the observatory in Sutherland, and how things (almost) went awry!
15 Jul 2022 4 min

Looking Up - 08 July 22

Dr Robin Catchpole, an astronomer with the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, started working in local astronomy in 1966, and gives us some background to the foundation of the observatory in Sutherland
8 Jul 2022 5 min

Looking Up - 01 July 22

100 years ago today the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa was formed, and here to tell us about it is Chris de Coning, Director of the History section. If you'd like more information please go to https://assa.saao.ac.za/centres/cape-centre/
1 Jul 2022 4 min

Looking Up - 24 June 22

Rotating liquid mirrors of mercury - bet you've never heard of that! There is a new telescope in India with such a mirror being commissioned at the moment. Also some news of a hypergiant, dying star.
24 Jun 2022 4 min

Looking Up - 17 June 22

What's up with our space telescopes? The James Webb has been hit by a meteorite (not serious) and the European Space Agency's Gaia telescope has found some interesting things hanging out in our galaxy. One of them is the James Webb.
17 Jun 2022 5 min

Looking up - 10 June 22

We've heard of gravitational waves, which are being detected by laser interferometers in different parts of the world. But these are detecting high-frequency waves caused by dramatic events such as the collision of supermassive black holes. There is an experiment going on to show that the universe is bathed in…
10 Jun 2022 5 min

Looking up - 03 June 2022

What is Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage and what will it do for you? The answer is that this technique will enable astronomers to see further, better, when applying Very Large Baseline Interferometry to the optical realm. And if you're not sure how this impacts you - well it could be…
3 Jun 2022 4 min

Looking up - 27 May 2022

A second image has recently been taken around a black hole, and here Kechil interviews one of the researchers, Prof Roger Deane, Director of the Wits Centre for Astrophysics. He tells us why this is an especially important image, as it can be used to test Einstein's theories. This work…
27 May 2022 4 min

Looking up - 20 May 2022

What is the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group and what does it do? It's hard not to be flippant about this subject, but it is interesting how many aerial phenomena defy explanation.
20 May 2022 5 min

Looking up - 13 May 2022

Some listeners may have heard the term 'machine learning'. This is highly critical for modern astronomy, where computers take vast amounts of data from astronomical observations and sift through it to detect patterns or find anomalies. To put it in context for us is Dr Jasper Horrell who works at…
13 May 2022 4 min

Looking up - 06 May

Would you like to live on Mars? A recent report suggests that solar technology may be feasible for establishing a small colony.
6 May 2022 4 min
120 – 140