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
380 – 400

Looking Up - 24 February 2017

Don't miss Sunday's solar eclipse. It will be as spectacular as the latest news from NASA about the Trappist-1 solar system, where you would see multiple eclipses per day if you lived on one of the outer planets!
24 Feb 2017 5 min

Looking Up - 03 February 2017

Lets talk about BIG DATA. Kechil chats to Prof. Russ Taylor, the director of the Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA).
3 Feb 2017 6 min

Looking Up - 13 January 2017

An exploration behind the Friday the 13th superstition as well as some other interesting superstitions. Also why does our calendar day start at midnight? Why not at sunrise as in some parts of the world.
13 Jan 2017 5 min

Looking Up - 6 January 2017

Ketchil talks the New Year, what to expect in 2017 and the best publication on astronomy you could wish for.
6 Jan 2017 4 min

Looking Up - 2 December 2016

Kechil interviews the Director General of the The Square Kilometre Array Project, Professor Philip Diamond.
2 Dec 2016 11 min

Looking Up - 18 November 2016

"I hope some of you listeners out there managed to see the Supermoon last Monday, as the moon was at its closest to earth since 1948. It must have looked spectacular from Cape Town."
18 Nov 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 28 October 2016

"Astronomy too high for humans. You need a head and body for heights to operate telescopes at high altitude, which many are at. It's not for the faint-hearted. Good thing most astronomers stare at computer screens all day analysing data."
28 Oct 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 14 October 2016

"International Observe The Moon Night was last Saturday 8 October but you can observe the lovely Moon any time. This Sunday 16th will be a Full Supermoon, when the moon will be close to the Earth. Come to Signal Hill on Sunday to watch the moonrise with John Richards and…
14 Oct 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 7 October 2016

"I am now back in South Africa and at Spier where there is a huge meeting of hundreds of engineers from all the way around the world, who are gathering to talk about the construction and design of the Square Kilometre Array - the massive radio astronomy telescope that's going…
7 Oct 2016 4 min

Looking Up - 30 September 2016

"When you hear this broadcast, I will be up in the air somewhere between the surface of planet Earth and space. Space isn’t very far away, at around 100kms, and at 30-off thousand feet it wouldn’t do you much good to suddenly find yourself outside the metal tube, with very…
30 Sep 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 23 September 2016

Repeat Broadcast of 12th August 2016: "Music and astronomy have had a long relationship. As Pythagoras said: there is geometry in the humming of the strings...there is music in the spacing of the spheres."
23 Sep 2016 4 min
380 – 400