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
439 Episodes
360 – 380

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

Looking Up - 23 February 2018

Man-made objects in space - they are there, but where? In this programme Kechil talks about her favourite space mission: the Voyagers.
23 Feb 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 16 February 2018

There are many things, and perhaps people, that you’d like to send into space, and others who seem to be already in orbit. But what is the fate of Elon Musk’s Tesla roadster that he sent into space? Several observatories on Earth have photographed the car on its long, long…
16 Feb 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 2 February 2018

Sutherland is where you can find the telescopes used by astronomers and other scientists for all sorts of purposes. Find out more, listen to Dr David Buckley, SALT Scientist, tell us what's going on up there or better still - visit yourself.
2 Feb 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 26 January 2018

Detecting gravitational waves is one thing, to verify their source with a variety of instruments is ground-breaking stuff. Ushering in a new era of astrophysics is Dr David Buckley from Cape Town's South African Astronomical Observatory, describing how we used instruments up at Sutherland to help carry out this work…
26 Jan 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 19 January 2018

The Earth could have formed inside the dense shell of an enormous bubble within a giant star, no kidding.
19 Jan 2018 4 min

Looking Up - 05 January 2018

Stars have a lifecycle just as living creatures do. They form in nebulae, they continue to shine for millennia, and then they turn into different entities depending on their size and composition. Dr Sally MacFarlane takes us through the basics.
4 Jan 2018 5 min

Looking Up - 30 December 2017

Where can you go to look at the stars? Kechil Kirkham and Sally MacFarlane talk about their favourite places and where the public can enjoy a spot of star gazing.
29 Dec 2017 5 min

Looking Up - 22 December 2017

Astrotourism - Dr Sally MacFarlane tells us what it is and why we should all get out and take a look at our gorgeous dark night skies.
22 Dec 2017 4 min

Looking Up - 15 December 2017

Did you know we have a national space agency? Do you know what it does? Hear it from the top as Kechil interviews its CEO, Dr Val Munsami.
15 Dec 2017 5 min

Looking Up - 08 December 2017

Get me outta here! Take me home! Many of us would benefit from a button to press which would take us instantly home in safety and comfort. This is especially so during this Christmas season. For terrestrials such a homing device doesn't exist, but for astronauts it is becoming a…
7 Dec 2017 4 min

Looking Up - December 01 2017

Lize van den Heever works on the radio astronomy project called MEERKAT, an important and completely South African component of the Square Kilometre Array. In itself it is a huge telescope, and is already producing new science. Find out more!
1 Dec 2017 5 min

Looking Up - 17 November 2017

What are satellites for as they silently whizz around planet Earth doing their business? All we can see of them is their tracks crossing the skies at night as the light from the Sun bounces off their casings and solar panels. Dewald Lloyd from Space Advisory Company gives us the…
17 Nov 2017 4 min

Looking Up - 03 November 2017

South Africa's space industry is active, and this year one of our satellites was launched from the International Space Station. Hear about the n-Sight programme and the n-Sight-1 satellite designed and built by Space Advisory Company here in Somerset West, now in orbit around a planet near you. Dr Francois…
3 Nov 2017 5 min

Looking Up - 27 October 2017

Telescopes Galore! Another telescope is being commissioned in Sutherland, and this one is highly unusual. Called Meerlicht, this is a robotic optical telescope which will observe the same patch of sky as MEERKAT, the new radio telescope being built in the Karoo. Where MEERKAT is the ears, Meerlicht is the…
27 Oct 2017 5 min
360 – 380