The Cosmic Savannah

In this special bonus episode we discuss the upcoming Annular Solar Eclipse occurring on 21 June 2020 across much of Africa and Asia! The post Special Episode: Annular Solar Eclipse 21 June 2020 appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

In this the final episode of Season 2 of The Cosmic Savannah podcast, Dan and Jacinta look back on the past year and some of their favourite episodes. They discuss asteroids, aliens, black holes, giant Galactic bubbles and much more. We also look forward to the year ahead and some of the exciting events to to come in 2020/21 including the launch of the James Webb Space Telescopes and a new Mars Ro...

Episode 24 features Professor Kavilan Moodley who joins us to discuss another exciting project in radio astronomy in South Africa, HIRAX! HIRAX is a radio telescope array that will detect remnant ripples in the distribution of galaxies that originate from primordial sound waves that existed in the early universe. This can be used for charting the expansion history of the universe and for shedding...

In Episode 23 of The Cosmic Savannah podcast, we are joined by the Head of Astronomy at the University of Cape Town, Professor Patrick Woudt. Patrick talks about the exciting ThunderKAT project which has recently observed a black hole ejecting material at close to the speed of light out to some of the largest angular distances (separations) ever seen! The post Episode 23: ThunderKAT appeared first...

This week on The Cosmic Savannah Podcast week we are joined by Dr Fernando Camilo who is the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) Chief Scientist. We chat with Fernando about MeerKAT and the recent discovery of enormous balloon-like structures that tower hundreds of light-years above and below the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. The post Episode 22: Milky Way blowing bubbles! appeared...

This week on The Cosmic Savannah Podcast we are joined by South African Astronomer, Dr Tana Joseph. Tana is currently based at the University of Manchester. She studies X-ray binaries which are a type of star system that emit X-rays because of interactions with a black hole or neutron star! Tana is also paving her own path and has started a company called AstroComms. It is a Science, Technology, E...

In our first episode of the 2020s and Episode 20 we are honoured to be joined by Prof Ewine van Dishoeck who is a Dutch astronomer and chemist. We learn how molecules form in space, combine with dust and eventually grow into the massive planets we observe and indeed inhabit. Ewine also tells us what it's like to be the President of the largest organisation of astronomers in the world and what she'...

In Episode 19 we learn all about the inspirational Astro Molo Mhlaba programme in Khayelitsha (Cape Town). This project targets the issues of inclusivity and diversity in South African astronomy by engaging the most underrepresented group - black girls from under-served communities. We hear from the project coordinators, the student facilitators and the school girls themselves. The post Episode 19...

Carringtone Kinyanjui and Olayinka Fagbemiro join us to talk about incredible astronomy outreach projects happening in Kenya and Nigeria. We talk about traditional interpretations of the night sky, the Sayari astro-tourism project, the Nigerian Space Agency and Astronomers Without Borders: Nigeria. The post Episode 18: Dark skies over Africa appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

In Episode 17 of The Cosmic Savannah, we discuss space telescopes! We talk about the amazing Hubble Space Telescope and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We also learn how the incredibly beautiful 'photos' of space are made. The post Episode 17: Space Telescopes! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

On the 11th of November 2019, the planet Mercury will pass between Earth and the Sun. This transit of Mercury will be visible across all of Africa by simply using a small telescope. In this special episode, we speak with Dr Niruj Ramanujam from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) about the importance of these events and how you can see the transit. The post Episode 16: Transit of...

Dan visits the Vatican Observatory and chats with the Director Brother Guy Consolmagno about how to reconcile faith and the Big Bang! We also talk to PhD Student Julia Healy about her work on galaxy clusters and what happened behind the scenes at the Lindau meeting of Nobel Laureates. The post Episode 15: The Vatican Observatory and more! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

Welcome to season 2 of The Cosmic Savannah! We take you on a trip to the African Savannah to the Kruger National Park and take a peek behind-the-scenes of an astronomy conference. The post Episode 14: Modeling Meerkats! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

Season Two of The Cosmic Savannah is on it's way! But in the meantime, our science-savvy listeners can get their fix at a very exciting live event happening soon in Cape Town! Soapbox Science South Africa is happening on Saturday 28th September 2019 at the Pierhead V&A Waterfront in Cape Town from 12pm until 3pm. Join us! The post Inter-Season Bonus: Soapbox Science appeared first on The Cosmic Sa...

In our final episode for Season 1, we are joined by Professor Petri Vaisanen, Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). Petri discusses the path to his current role including his research on galaxy evolution and some of the exciting discoveries along the way. Petri also explains his current role, his vision for astronomy in South Africa, and some of the exciting developments o...

Jacinta continues her visit to Australia, this week chatting with Dr Jeff Wagg about the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and Ahmed Elagali about his work on superclusters, neutral hydrogen and ring galaxies. The post Episode 12: Further Adventures in Oz appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

Jacinta takes us on a tour of her homeland, into the Australian bush, and chats about pathfinders, precursor telescopes and exciting collaborations between South Africa and Australia in the lead up to the Square Kilometre Array! The post Episode 11: A Trip Down Under appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

We are joined by two experts in stellar astronomy, Priscilla Muheki from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda and Distinguished Professor Hakeem Oluseyi from the Florida Institute of Technology. Priscilla talks about her PhD research in Uganda studying violent outbursts, known as coronal mass ejections, from certain types of stars. Hakeem then goes on the explain these coronal mass...

We continue our discussion from Episode 8 on simulating the Universe, this week focusing on the simulation of actual galaxies. Nicole explains the SIMBA suite of simulations she is working on. SIMBA is a set of simulations which look at how the super-massive black holes at the centre of galaxies affect the galaxy they live in. Nathan chats with us about his work creating individual galaxies within...

Prof Romeel Davé, from the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, and who spent 5 years working in Cape Town, introduces us to simulations! He explains how we can use simulations to perform experiments to test our understanding of the physics of the Universe. The post Episode 8: Simulating the Universe appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

In Episode 7 of the Cosmic Savannah we chat with Tanya and Simon about their astronomy at Namibia's HESS Telescope and the VLA in the USA. We also chat about their incredible journey through Africa on bicycles and their experience of the magnificent cosmic savannah! The post Episode 7: Under African Skies appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

with Prof Eric Wilcots and Sinenhlanhla Precious Sikhosana In this episode, we speak with Prof Eric Wilcots and Sinenhlanhla Precious Sikhosana about galaxies and the environments they live in. We […] The post Episode 6: Galactic Neighbourhoods appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

with Dr Roger Deane and Dr Rhodri Evans On 10 April 2019 six simultaneous press conferences around the world broadcast the first results from the Event Horizon Telescope – a […] The post Episode 5 (Special Edition): Event Horizon Telescope – First Results appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

with Dr Imogen Whittam and Lerato Sebokolodi Episode 4 features Dr Imogen Whittam, a SARAO Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of the Western Cape and Lerato Sebokolodi a PhD student, […] The post Episode 4: Black holes and Radio Jets appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .

with Dr Griffin Foster In this episode Dr Griffin Foster describes the planned hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence with South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope! Griffin is from the University of Oxford and […] The post Episode 3: SETI with MeerKAT appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah .