Looking Up

What was the Star of Bethlehem? Any idea?

Visit the Observatory for a tour! Pran Govender tells us about the new Visitor Centre and tours at the Observatory. See www.saao.ac.za

In August this year Kechil caught up with Prof Phil Charles at the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly. Here he talks about his passion for White Dwarf stars.

When Kechil was in Perth in October she talked to Ramesh Bhat about Australian indigenous astronomy.

Kechil reports on the latest plans by the European Space Agency to launch a gravitational wave detector into space, LISA.

Kechil talks to Ramesh Bhat in Australia about the SKA LOW and his pulsar research.

The 2025 Sky Guide Southern Africa is out now. Gayle Andrews, the librarian of the Cape Centre tells us about it. If you're interested in joining us: https://assa.saao.ac.za/centres/cape-centre/ and the Sky Guide can be obtained from: https://struiknature.co.za/product/sky-guide-2025/

Distinguished radio astronomer Ron Ekers talks to Kechil in Perth about his career highlight

Spookiness in space! What goes on around the dark side of the Moon?

Kechil is back in South Africa after visiting astronomers in Perth, Australia and gives a roundup of local celestial news. If you'd like to look at some stunning images of the recent comet visit https://www.facebook.com/Astrosocsa/

Kechil interviews Dr Rajan Chhetri in Perth, Australia about inter-planetary scintillation and twinkling black holes.

These days, for every astronomer, there are a bunch of computer scientists, software developers and engineers behind them, creating the telescopes and software that allow them to process their data. Jordan Collier is such a person who facilitates astronomers producing science. He works in Perth, Australia which is where Kechil caught up with him.

Dr Knicole Colon of the James Webb Space Telescope tells us about the mysterious rogue planets following recent research in the Orion Nebula.

Dr Knicole Colon of the James Webb Space Telescope tells us about the mysterious rogue planets following recent research in the Orion Nebula.

There was a partial lunar eclipse early this morning but not worth staying up for. Kechil gives a round-up of upcoming eclipses, and gives the latest space news.

A candy floss planet! The universe is weirder than we thought. A telescope in Sutherland has found something odd.

Ranpal Gil works on the engineering side of a new massive survey telescope, the Vera C Rubin, in Chile. She talked to Kechil about this extraordinary telescope when she was here at the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly in Cape Town, early August.

Liquid water has been found on Mars, but not where we'd want it. It's 10-20kms underground, at least at the place where the Mars Insight lander was testing. Interesting though, and baby steps in terms of any colonisation programme.

Professor Phil Charles was the director of the Southern African Astronomical Observatory here in Cape Town and retired many years ago. What has he been up to since? Kechil catches up with him at the IAU's General Assembly on August 13th.

What is dark matter and what is dark energy? Do they exist? Well, we've sent up a spacecraft which has left a space telescope, Euclid, to map billions of galaxies and detect their movement. To tell us more about this mysterious and fascinating endeavor is Sandor Kruk of the European Space Agency, here at the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly in Cape Town.

It's the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly happening now in Cape Town from 6-15th August. This is great news for Africa, as it's the first time the annual General Assembly has taken place in this continent. More information about public events and booking can be found here: https://astronomy2024.org/public/ The number of the Observatory if you'd like to book a daytime tour or lis...

More about asteroids, other threats in space and how the Chinese are dealing with them, plus advance notice of the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly taking place in Cape Town 6-15 August.

Last Sunday was International Asteroid Day. This was celebrated mainly on Monday when people were back at work, when Kechil attended a talk given by Marco Micheli of the European Space Agency's Space Situational Awareness Planetary Defence Office. Here he is talking to Kechil about why it is important to devote attention to asteroids. Here in South Africa, we have a telescope which is part of the...

Why do stars spin? What sets them off? Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope may tell us something about this phenomenon and what happens in the early phase of a star's life.

Even NASA slips up in its communications from time to time. Recently they broadcast a medical emergency drill to their public livestream channel about the International Space Station by mistake. Kechil here attempts to recreate the drama.