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
200 – 220

Looking up - 19 Feb 21

February is the month of Mars this year with not one, not two, but three missions arriving at the Red Planet. Two represent the first interplanetary missions for the United Arab Emirates and China, the third being the US NASA Perseverance rover.
19 Feb 2021 4 min

Looking up - 12 Feb 21

The latest from outer space: unusual star systems and a Japanese sample-return mission to an asteroid.
12 Feb 2021 4 min

Looking up - 05 Feb 21

Dragonfly Aerospace is a new space technology company based in Stellenbosch. The CEO, Bryan Dean, tells Kechil all about it.
5 Feb 2021 5 min

Looking up - 29 Jan 21

Research Fellow Dr Mpati Ramatsoku of Rhodes University tells Kechil about mysterious strings around distant galaxies which only powerful radio telescopes can see. In fact, only the local MeerKAT radio telescope has detected them. These connect massive 'lobes' emanating from one particular galaxy. Are there more of these? Does every…
29 Jan 2021 4 min

Looking up - 22 Jan 21

Super-massive enormous galaxies - they exist out there with super massive black holes at their centres spewing out great long jets of plasma and who knows what. This is the latest finding from our local MeerKAT telescope, the biggest telescope in the world in the Northern Cape. Dr Jacinta Delhaize…
22 Jan 2021 5 min

Looking up - 08 Jan 21

We start off the year with a mystery. What are ORCs? Odd Radio Circles a million light years across and far, far away. Now with more powerful telescopes coming online like MeerKAT in South Africa and ASKAP in Australia we are finding new things in the cosmos. Here to tell…
8 Jan 2021 5 min

Looking up - 01 Jan 21

Here's a round-up of what's going on in space in 2021 - looks set to be a very busy year. For astronomy and scientific discoveries - who knows?
3 Jan 2021 5 min

Looking up - 31 Dec

Finally the James Webb Space Telescope has launched into space, on Christmas Day itself, and is now on its way to its destination. Find out about what it's going to do when it gets there, and why this is a very important and exciting space mission.
31 Dec 2020 5 min

Looking up - 25 Dec 20

Just what was the Star of Bethlehem? Was it a star at all? To talk through the possibilities Kechil chats to Christian Hettlage of the South African Astronomical Observatory.
25 Dec 2020 6 min

Looking up - 18 Dec 20

What is a syzygy and why isn't it a good word for Scrabble? There is a 'great conjunction' happening on 21 December. This is the first time such a close conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter has happened since the 13th century.
18 Dec 2020 4 min

Looking up - 11 Dec 20

Simon Ratcliffe has been at the beating heart of the Square Kilometre Array project since the outset - and has in the last 15 years helped to build the biggest telescope in the world. Listen to his highlights and how we beat the Australians with the power of Min. Naledi…
11 Dec 2020 5 min

Looking up - 05 Dec 20

The Zone of Avoidance: is this the distance we are supposed to be keeping from each other in these times of Covid? Or is it something to do with that great foreground light polluter, our galaxy? Professor Renée Kraan-Kortweg from UCT tells us what it is.
4 Dec 2020 4 min

Looking up - 27 Nov 20

A strange metal monolith has been found in the Utah desert. What is it? What is its purpose? Who put it there? And why can you not hide anything on the surface of planet Earth for long?
27 Nov 2020 5 min

Looking up - 20 Nov 20

Space news! The world of space chugs on: we recently had the first commercial crewed mission to the International Space Station, the rover Perseverance is well on its way to Mars, the radio antenna in Australia used to communicate with the Voyager 2 craft has been repaired and it seems…
20 Nov 2020 5 min

Looking up - 14 Nov 20

Today Kechil tells us about the latest research on moons in our solar system: a glowing Jovian moon and an unexpected organic chemical in one of Saturn's moon's upper atmosphere. It's all happening out there.
13 Nov 2020 5 min

Looking up - 06 Nov 20

The Iziko Planetarium in Cape Town has been busy with the South African Astronomical Observatory, together creating a planetarium show to tell the world, and the South African public, about the wonders of local astronomy. If you ever wanted to visit Sutherland and all the telescopes, or see what the…
6 Nov 2020 4 min

Looking up - 30 Oct 20

This month is a Blue Moon - two Full Moons in one calendar month. Each Full Moon has a particular name but these names were created in the northern hemisphere and don't relate to us down here very well. The Centre for Astronomical Heritage has created new Full Moon names…
30 Oct 2020 4 min

Looking up - 23 Oct 20

If you fancy a trip out into the Karoo where you can look through telescopes, visit the Leeuwenboschfontein Observatory. To find out when it's open to the public see https://www.facebook.com/LeeuwenboschfonteinObservatory/. The festival of astronomy to mark the 200 year anniversary of the founding of the Observatory in Cape Town continues…
23 Oct 2020 4 min

Looking up - 16 Oct 20

Now is the 200 year anniversary of the establishment of the Observatory in Cape Town, which is the first modern scientific establishment in Africa! Dr Daniel Cunama talks to Kechil about what the South African Astronomical Observatory is doing to mark this special occasion, and you can join in. See…
16 Oct 2020 4 min
200 – 220