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
438 Episodes
340 – 360

Looking Up - 13 July 2018

Today MEERKAT was inaugurated, the largest radio telescope of its type in the world by a long way. It is already producing ground-breaking, or sky-stretching, science. and is a tremendous achievement. This extraordinary instrument is entirely South African funded and built - the World Cup Trophy of science and engineering…
13 Jul 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 6 July 2018

Data from the Cassini mission to Saturn has been analysed and the building blocks for life have been detected. Find out more! Is there life beneath the icy surface of this planetoid?
6 Jul 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 29 June 2018

If your home is filthy, you are simply in tune with the universe. Astronomers have revealed that interstellar space is permeated with a fine mist of grease-like molecules. How much? Enough for 40 trillion trillion trillion packs of butter in our Milky Way alone. It seems to be true but…
29 Jun 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 22 June 2018

Black Holes! Supermassive black holes! Black holes gobbling up stars! Supermassive black holes gobbling up stars in colliding galaxies! It's rough out there. Here on Earth, we have survived another solstice, be thankful.
22 Jun 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 15 June 2018

The Mars rover Opportunity is in a bit of a pickle, resting out a mighty dust storm on the surface of the planet. It's been powered down to conserve battery power as it can't recharge with all that dust about. Recently two studies have inched further in detecting signs of…
15 Jun 2018 4 min

Looking Up - 08 June 2018

Where are all the aliens? Are they amongst us? Kechil explains Fermi's Paradox, listing all logical possibilities. Are we the dangerous ones who will obliterate life on other planets?
8 Jun 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 01 June 2018

Brent Miszalski, SALT Astronomer with the South African Astronomical Observatory here in Cape Town, has discovered the secrets behind the weird and wonderful shape of the Hourglass Nebula, which sits close to the Southern Cross. Find out why it is the way it is, and what binary star systems have…
1 Jun 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 25 May 2018

This past Sunday China launched a rocket which carried three satellites that are now en route to the Moon. Two of these satellites carry instruments co-developed here in Somerset West by Space Advisory Company, part of a complex and exciting science collaboration with the Dutch, Saudis and Chinese. Dr Francois…
25 May 2018 4 min

Looking Up - 25 May 2018

This past Sunday China launched a rocket which carried three satellites that are now en route to the Moon. Two of these satellites carry instruments co-developed here in Somerset West by Space Advisory Company, part of a complex and exciting science collaboration with the Dutch, Saudis and Chinese. Dr Francois…
25 May 2018 4 min

Looking Up - 18 May 2018

The End of the Universe: when and how will the universe end and just what are these numerical poets up to? Why are they so hung up on Dark Energy when nobody knows what it is? Professor Peter Dunsby tries to explain all in less than 5 minutes to a…
18 May 2018 4 min

Looking Up - 05 May 2018

We think of astronomy as looking at the stars, but there's other ways that southern african observatories are contributing to a fuller picture of what the universe is like. Professor Christo Venter, an astrophysicist from North West University, tells us about gamma rays and about the gamma ray detector in…
5 May 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 27 April 2018

What has accountancy got to do with astronomy? What has fake statistics got to do with astronomy? Benford's Law has been applied to data we have about the size of exoplanets with excellent results.
27 Apr 2018 4 min

Looking Up - 20 April 2018

TESS and the exoplanets. Find out about a new satellite sent up to survey planets orbiting around distant stars. We will for sure find many Earth-like planets, some perhaps in the 'Goldilocks zone'.
20 Apr 2018 4 min

Looking Up - 13 April 2018

Have you ever wondered what is there on the Dark Side of the Moon? Soon, we may know. A South African company is involved in a fascinating unmanned mission to land on the far side and carry out scientific investigations. But in order to communicate back to Earth, a communications…
13 Apr 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 06 April 2018

Dr Fernando Camilo, Chief Scientist at SARAO, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, proudly tells us of the first scientific paper to be published using observations from MEERKAT. This is a brand new telescope being built in the Karoo, which will soon be the largest of its kind in the…
6 Apr 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 30 March 2018

Case Rijsdijk is the President of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, amongst many responsibilities he shoulders. He continues to make a difference, being a leading light in South Africa's physics teaching programmes. He teaches physics teachers throughout the land, helped by the SA Institute of Physics and is instrumental…
30 Mar 2018 4 min

Looking Up - 23 March 2018

You may remember a very special space mission to Pluto called New Horizons which took unprecedented images of our furthest planet. That was in 2015, but the mission has not come to an end. Assistant Project Scientist Anne Verbiscer has been visiting Cape Town and tells us what is planned…
23 Mar 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 16 March 2018

Most of you radio listeners will have heard that the cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking died on 14th March, which happens to be the day Einstein was born, and is International Pi Day. Not as in meat pie, but the number Pi, since the date in American is 3.14, the value…
16 Mar 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 09 March 2018

Astronomy and Art: Lucia Marchetti tells us about a fabulous art project involving astronomy and the people who live around astronomical sites and those who work in the field. Go to Company's Gardens to see part of the installation, and the rest in the Iziko Museum: https://www.hemelliggaam.com/
9 Mar 2018 5 min
340 – 360