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
400 – 420

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

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
400 – 420