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This unit looks at how telescopes and spectrographs are designed to improve our ability to observe the universe. You will examine how different technologies have been developed over the last four hundred years to enable us to look deep into space. This study unit is just one of many that can be found on LearningSpace, part of OpenLearn, a collection of open educational resources from The Open University. Published in ePub 2.0.1 format, some feature such as audio, video and linked PDF are not ...
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Putting YOU at the center of our universe. LIVE on YouTube FRIDAYS 10AM PST. Welcome to Sky-Watcher’s official ”What’s Up?” Podcast! Featuring product announcements and in-depth overviews for some of the amateur astronomy industry’s most popular gear like our EQ6-R Pro mount, Esprit series ED refractors, and the Star Adventurer star tracker. We also feature monthly astronomical observing and imaging guides, special guest interviews with industry experts and ambassadors (even a NASA astronaut ...
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Looking Up

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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 ast ...
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March 8th, 1971, Madison Square Garden, New York, USA. A small, illuminated square of canvas. Camera lenses point from every direction, the world is watching. In the surrounding seats an unlikely mix of spectators rub shoulders - the cream of Hollywood, music stars, gangsters, pimps and politicians. Outside touts are making a killing, asking astronomical prices for the hottest ticket in town. In order to gain the best view in the house, legendary singer Frank Sinatra has become an accredited ...
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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.Por Kechil Kirkham
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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 Gener…
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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 Obser…
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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…
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How can the Sun affect our weather, aside from its obvious heat. Given the spate of solar storms earlier in the month, Kechil has brought back Jacques van Delft to talk about how our Sun may affect our rainfall, with predictions about what we may expect this winter. If you would like to follow Jacques van Delft, here is his Facebook page on solar a…
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Recently there has been a spate of solar storms. Kechil talks to the Director of the Solar Section of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, Jacques van Delft, about our nearest star and what it has been up to. If you would like to follow Jacques van Delft, here is his Facebook page on solar activities https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=…
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We are finding out more about planets outside of our solar system. 55 Cancri e is an odd one: it orbits its sun once every 17 Earth hours, and is only 2.3 kms away - can you imagine that? I wonder what it sounds like there. You would definitely not want to visit. It has a molton lava surface and is possibly made out of diamond!…
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Second year PhD student Venu Prayag shares his interest in technosignatures: a method of detecting alien activity emanating from planets outside of our solar system. He's optimistic we will find these soon, and with the South African instrument, MeerKAT, in the Northern Cape!Por Kechil Kirkham
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Kechil spent a blissful weekend recently at a star-gazing event at Leeuwenboschfontein Observatory, and you can too! Here are some links which will take you there: https://www.leeuwenboschfontein.co.za/pages/lbf-astronomical-observatory/ https://www.facebook.com/LeeuwenboschfonteinObservatory/ The children of Bellville North Primary School joined f…
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Kellie Devos is a PhD student at the University of Nottingham, UK, studying the evolution of galaxies in clusters. It sounds rather like living in cities, in that you have a different way of being in different suburbs. She wishes she could visit them in a spaceship, but unfortunately even if you could visit far away galaxies, you might not see as m…
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There are many missions to the Moon launching this year, including the Peregrine mission, which was launched recently and has unfortunately already malfunctioned. This show outlines a few of these, some of which are commercial enterprises or collaborations between industry and government space agencies. The Chinese, Japanese, US and private concern…
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How do we know about the geology of planets outside of our solar system? Professor John Compton describes what we know about the geology of planets other than our own, and how we can determine the behaviour and composition of other planets. Did you know what a dead planets is? Find out, all in 5 minutes!…
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Professor John S Compton talks to Kechil about some of the fascinating characters connected to the history of astronomy in Cape Town. You can find out more from his book: Interpreting Earth, A History of Geology through Encounters with Table Mountain. It is obtainable by visiting the website https://www.johnscompton.com/ and from independent booksh…
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Professor John Compton talks to Kechil about his latest book: Interpreting Earth, A History of Geology through Encounters with Table Mountain. It is full of the history of astronomy and geological exploration in The Cape, and contains many lovely illustrations. It is obtainable by visiting the website https://www.johnscompton.com/ and from independ…
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The worthy and wonderful Sky Guide Southern Africa 2024 is now available in bookshops. You can see a review here: https://assa.saao.ac.za/ and if you scroll down a bit, on the facebook site here: https://www.facebook.com/Astrosocsa. How to buy it, you can find here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/book/sky-guide-2024/9781775848677 Also, someth…
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There is a new documentary film doing its rounds on the festival circuit called !Aitsa about the people and the place where the big radio telescopes are being operated and built in the northern cape. Kechil interviews the director, Dane Dodds, who is from that area himself, about the film. The scope of the film is enormous and cosmic, and you can f…
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Have we detected a sign of life on an exoplanet? The chemical signature of DMS has been possibly found by the James Webb Space Telescope. In a year's time we'll have more robust data on this, but it suggests that phytoplankton may exist - that is, life! - on a planet which is not Earth.Por Kechil Kirkham
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