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
400 – 420

Looking Up - 16 September 2016

Kechil is at Jodrell Bank near Manchester in the UK for a few months. This is a radio astronomy establishment next to an enormous dish. This week Kechil is talking to Jeff Wagg who is the Project Scientist with the The Square Kilometre Array Project.
16 Sep 2016 4 min

Looking Up - 9 September 2016

Kechil is at Jodrell Bank near Manchester in the UK for a few months. This is a radio astronomy establishment next to an enormous dish. This week Kechil is talking to Tim Stevenson who is the Head of Mission Assurance.
9 Sep 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 2 September 2016

Kechil is at Jodrell Bank near Manchester in the UK for a few months. This is a radio astronomy establishment next to an enormous dish. You can blow up a radio astronomy dish - but only this one, designed like a bouncy castle to teach and inspire.
2 Sep 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 26 August 2016

Solar Eclipse on 1 September at 09:43, maximum at 10:48. Fantastic news about the discovery of a potentially water-supporting planet orbiting around our nearest star! What a stroke of luck. All we need to do is work out how to travel 40 trillion kms- but perhaps we just need to…
26 Aug 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 19 August 2016

Kechil is at Jodrell Bank near Manchester, which is a radio astronomy establishment with a great big dish. Prof Tim O' Brien is here chatting about the monster, and what it does.
19 Aug 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 12 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."
12 Aug 2016 4 min

Looking Up - 05 August 2016

With it being a Friday, the day of the Pub Quiz, Kechil Kirkham Quizzes Rebecca Baatjes, Fine Music Radio's production assistant, in a radio friendly quiz.
5 Aug 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 29 July 2016

Kechil goes to the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) offices in Pinelands, Cape Town to speak to Rupert Spann, operator supervisor for MeerKAT
29 Jul 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 22 July 2016

"Nowadays we know a fair amount about planetary motion. We can predict very precisely where planets will be, and we understand the laws governing their motion..."
22 Jul 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 15 July 2016

"Last week three astronauts travelled to the International Space Station. Nothing new about that, except that they took two days to get there. The ISS is only about 350kms from the surface of the Earth, and in case you didn’t know it is a mere 100km to outer space, straight…
15 Jul 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 1 July 2016

"Last week I mentioned DARK MATTER, by way of describing the latest findings that the universe is expanding faster than previously thought. We don't really know what this "Dark Matter" is - this elusive substance that composes most of the material universe, but it could be, that it's made of…
1 Jul 2016 4 min

Looking Up - 24 June 2016

"Consider your waistline, is it expanding? Is it expanding at an ever-increasing rate? If so, you are in tune with The Universe. Yes, the universe is expanding faster than astronomers had thought, a new study suggests. And if you don't believe me trot along to space.com to verify this strange…
24 Jun 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 17 June 2016

Interferometry for the people: Dr. Anna Scaife talks about radio astronomy interferometry.
17 Jun 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 10 June 2016

Big Data in the City: The Square Kilometre Array radio telescope is attracting many kinds of talent and resources to Cape Town. One of the most challenging aspects of the SKA is its greed for data. It will need a massive IT infrastructure to deal with the amount and throughout…
10 Jun 2016 6 min

Looking Up - 27 May 2016

MEERKAT switched on! SKA Chief Scientist Dr Fernando Camila describes the first test from the new telescope, MEERKAT. This will eventually form part of the massive Square Kilometre Array, an instrument 100 times more powerful than any radio telescope ever built. MEERKAT itself is a South African effort and will…
27 May 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 20 May 2016

New bigger, better and all together funkier special purpose space telescope called The James Web Space Telescope
20 May 2016 5 min

Looking Up - 13 May 2016

Great Balls of Fire: It’s Friday 13th and if nothing untoward has happened to you yet, consider asteroids landing on Earth and spoiling your weekend. What to do about it? Listen to this podcast for handy hints. Well, actually not, but you could possibly be reassured by the efforts of…
13 May 2016 5 min
400 – 420