The Cosmic Savannah

The band is back together! In this episode Jacinta, Tshia and Dan sit together in the cupboard once again to catch up and to reflect on Season 5. The post Episode 70: Season 5 in Review appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this mini episode Jacinta has a quick interview with Professor Russ Taylor, one of the founders of IDIA ( The Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy). The post Mini Episode: Big data, big IDIA appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In the second part of the Polar ring galaxy series, Jacinta and Tshia drop in on Dr Lucia Marchetti and Alex Sivitilli in the IDIA (The Inter-university Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy) Visualisation Laboratory at UCT (The University of Cape Town) where they learn how Virtual Reality (VR) can be used to model astronomical data in three dimensions. The post Episode 69: Into the Matrix – Visualising Polar Ring Galaxies appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This week Dr Nathan Deg returns to The Cosmic Savannah to discuss Polar-ring galaxies and how he models these incredible structures. The post Episode 68: Untangling the Origins of Polar Ring Galaxies appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this “unplugged” episode, we hear from our own! New host Tshiamiso Makwela tells us about her research and we introduce you to our new podcast manager, Francois Campher. Tshiamiso (Tshia) discusses her work in the field of Astronomy Education Research. She asks us "how big is big" and "how far is far"? Tshia explains why these concepts so difficult, yet so important, to comprehend. The post Episode 67: A Stroll to the Edge of The Universe appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this new exciting episode Professor Matthew Bailes returns to discuss his recent work on Pulsars as well as his thoughts and feelings on winning the 2023 Shaw Prize for the discovery of Fast Radio Bursts. The post Episode 66: Meertime Mysteries – Pulsars and Prizes appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This is a re-run of episode 29 of The Cosmic Savannah in anticipation of an upcoming interview with Prof Matthew Bailes so all our listeners can get up to speed about everything to do with Neutron Stars! The post Episode 65: Zombies of the Cosmos (Re-run) appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this episode, Tshiamiso and Dan have a discussion with Alexander Andersson from Oxford University about Zooniverse, citizen science projects and how citizens can contribute to the work that Astronomers do. The post Episode 64: Bursts from Space appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this episode, Jacinta sits down with Dr. Sthabile Kolwa to discuss the ways in which galaxies change over cosmic time, how astronomers are able to study these changes and what these studies can tell us about the cosmos as a whole. The post Episode 63: How Galaxies Evolve – The Quest for Cold Gas appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In the third and final part of the SKAO Construction Commencement Ceremony series, Jacinta sits down with Professor Phil Diamond, the Director-General of the SKAO to discuss his thoughts and feelings around the construction commencement ceremony in Australia and on the future of the project as a whole. The post Episode 62: Behind the Scenes of the SKAO with Phil Diamond appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In the second part of Episode 61, Jacinta takes us on a journey to the SKA-low site in Western Australia and shares her experience of the Construction Commencement Ceremony for the Square Kilometre Array that took place in December. The post Episode 61: Part 2 – SKAO Construction Commencement Ceremony – Australia appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

Join Episode 61 as Dan reminisces about visiting the SKAO site in South Africa. He shares highlights from the Construction Commencement Ceremony for the Square Kilometre Array. Exciting memories unfold! The post Episode 61: Part 1 – SKAO Construction Commencement Ceremony – South Africa appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In the world of astrophysics, few names shine as brightly as Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell. In today's episode, we are very privileged to welcome Jocelyn as a guest on The Cosmic Savannah. Jocelyn shares with us the full story behind her groundbreaking discovery of pulsars in the 1960s, how she overcame numerous obstacles as a woman in a male-dominated field, and her initiatives for improving diversity in physics and astronomy. The post Episode 60: Pulsars and possibilities – a conversation with Jocelyn Bell-Burnell appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

The Cosmic Savannah Podcast returns for its 5th season, taking listeners on another captivating cosmic journey. Explore distant galaxies, enigmatic black holes, and groundbreaking research in Africa. Engaging interviews, discussions, and unravelling the universe's complexities await. Stay tuned for updates on our website and social media platforms. In this pre-season special, Jacinta and Dan sit down to chat about what we've both been up to over the past few months and what we're looking forward to in the new season, including the SKA Commencement of Construction Ceremonies, the James Webb Space Telescope and Jacinta's rockstar performance at TEDxMandurah! The post Pre-season special: What's been happening? appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

The 5th of December 2022 sees the commencement of construction of the long-awaited Square Kilometre Array (SKA)! We are honoured to be joined by the SKA Observatory Council Chairperson, Dr Catherine Cesarsky to talk about this momentous occasion. The post Episode 59: Construction of the SKA commences! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this week's episode, Jacinta and Dan take a step back to review the past year of the Cosmic Savannah podcast. We chat about some of the highlights of the past year in astronomy and also some of our favourite episodes of the season. The post Episode 58: Season 4 in Review appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this episode we are joined by Dr Omima Osman who studies the lifecycles of cosmic dust. Omima explains how she is using computer simulations to understand how dust is created, grows and is destroyed in interstellar space. The post Episode 57: From dust to dust appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy! We are joined by Dr Iniyan Natarajan who is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Witwatersrand and who was part of the team of over 300 astronomers who made this possible. The post Episode 56: Our supermassive black hole appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

An oldie but a goodie - re-run of Episode 11. 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 55: A Trip Down Under (Re-run) appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this week's episode we are joined by fours members of the board of the recently established African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA). AfNWA is an initiative that aims to connect women working in astronomy and related fields in Africa. AfNWA aims to guarantee the future participation of girls and women at all levels in astronomy and science developments in Africa. The post Episode 54: The African Network of Women in Astronomy appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

A powerful, naturally occurring “space laser”, called a megamaser, has been discovered with South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope in a galaxy nearly five billion light-years away. We speak with the lead researcher Dr. Marcin Glowacki and team-lead Associate Professor Sarah Blyth. The post Episode 53: Space lasers! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this week's episode, we take a step back from astronomy and focus on mental health in academia and beyond. We are joined by Dr Jack Radcliffe, an astronomer from the University of Pretoria who speaks to us about his work on galaxy evolution, as well his recent efforts to speak out about mental health challenges facing academics in particular. The post Episode 52: Head Space appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

We are joined by Prof Travis Rector, co-founder of Astronomers for Planet Earth, who chats about why and how astronomers can teach climate change! The post Episode 51: No Planet B appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In celebration of our 50th Episode, we are joined by a Titan of Astronomy, Dr Bernie Fanaroff, who speaks with us about his illustrious career and his vision for the future of astronomy in Africa The post Episode 50: Titans of Astronomy appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This episode is in celebration of the IAU Women and Girls in Astronomy Month in February. We speak with Dr Elizabeth Naluminsa who is one of the first Ugandan women to obtain her PhD in astronomy is now working with instrumentation on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). The post Episode 49: SALT Spectroscopy appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

We're joined by SAAO Astronomer Dr Nic Erasmus who has been responsible for the newest telescope on the SAAO site (And he's just had a comet named after him!) Sutherland has become the latest observatory to host an asteroid tracking system funded by NASA! The post Episode 48: ATLAS – Holding up the Heavens! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This is a re-run of the very first episode of The Cosmic Savannah! We're re-running it in preparation for our next episode where we'll be speaking again with Nic for some exciting updates. In Episode 1, we introduce ourselves and our vision for the podcast. SALT Astronomer Dr Moses Mogotsi then describes what it's like to use the biggest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere (from 00:12m). Lastly, Dr Nicolas Erasmus tells us about the hunt for near-earth asteroids (from 00:23m) using the ATLAS network. Nic explains how another ATLAS telescope is being installed in South Africa in order to achieve continuous coverage of the Southern night sky. The post Episode 47: SALT and Near-Earth Asteroids (re-run) appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Kenda Knowles. Kenda has just released a beautiful new dataset called the MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey (MGCLS). The survey contains images of the radio emission from 115 clusters of galaxies! The post Episode 46: A crash of clusters appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

The long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope will finally launch into space on December 18 2021! In this episode we are joined by Prof Christy Tremonti who is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is an observational astronomer who works on galaxy evolution and stellar feedback processes. Christy speaks with us about her work, the JWST and the exciting future that awaits! The post Episode 45: The James Webb Space Telescope 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 ejections and the violent magnetic fields associated with them, and what effect they may have on both our technology and our entire planet! The post Episode 44: Stars behaving badly! (Re-run) appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Tariq Blecher and Shilpa Ranchod who talk to us about the clever ways they are trying to capture the elusive signals of hydrogen gas in the distant Universe. The post Episode 43: The search for hidden hydrogen appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

We are joined by Dr Eugene Grosch who is a geologist and petrologist at Rhodes University in South Africa to discuss how planets create the building blocks for life! The post Episode 42: Rockin' all over the World appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

We are joined by Dr Rob Yates, from the University of Surrey, who chats with us about how to recreate the formation of galaxies inside a supercomputer! The post Episode 41: How to Train Your Galaxy appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This episode we speak with Dr Marisa Geyer. She is a pulsar astronomer and Commissioning Scientist at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) in Cape Town, South Africa. MeerKAT telescope. She also explains her research on pulsars and mysterious Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). We don't yet know what causes FRBs, but Marisa reveals some enticing clues! The post Episode 40: The mystery of the Fast Radio Burst appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this week's episode, we are joined by Dr Miriam Nyamai who studies thermonuclear eruptions on the surface of white dwarf stars! Miriam explains how these "novae" eruptions occur and what we can learn from them. She also describes her role as a postdoctoral researcher hunting for transient events in the sky using radio telescopes such as MeerKAT. The post Episode 39: Erupting novae appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

We are joined by Dr Michelle Lochner who is a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa. Michelle is developing new machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to analyse the massive astronomical datasets of next- generation telescopes. The post Episode 38: Rise of the machines appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

Welcome to Season Four! We start with a bang and speak with the Director General of the Square Kilometre Array Telescope, Prof Phil Diamond! Phil tells us how it feels to finally have the green light for construction of this giant telescope, after nearly 30 years of preparation. The post Episode 37: Square Kilometre Array telescope is go for construction! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

Episode 36 marks the second anniversary of The Cosmic Savannah. We take the opportunity to reflect on what has been a very different year, but not without some great fun and highlights. Jacinta and Dan talk through some of their favourite moments from the past year. The post Episode 36: Another Year in Review appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This week we feature some rising stars in African Astronomy! We're joined by high school learners Indiphile Madletyana and Thabo Maliea who both show great promise as aspiring astronomers, as well as Masters students Sumari Hattingh and Reikantseone Diretse who discuss studies of galaxy clusters using the Hubble Space Telescope. Check out the show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah.com for related links, pics, info and the full transcript. The post Episode 35: Rising Stars appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This episode we hear from a familiar voice! SALT Astronomer Dr Moses Mogotsi was our first ever guest on The Cosmic Savannah. He joins us again to explain what it's like to observe in the time of COVID and to tell us more about his research on galaxies. We learn about how observing galaxies in different wavelengths and with different telescopes can add to our overall understanding of how galaxies evolve. Check out the show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah.com for related links, pics, info and the full transcript. The post Episode 34: The Life Cycle of Galaxies appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

with Tiaan Strydom February 18 2021 will see NASA’s latest Mars Rover, Perseverance, land on the red planet. We are joined by Tiaan Strydom, the Business Development Manager at the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) to discuss the landing and SANSA’s role in it, as well as various other contributions SANSA is making to … Continue reading "Episode 33: Mars Rovers and the South African National Space Agency" The post Episode 33: Mars Rovers and the South African National Space Agency appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this episode we will be discussing some more exciting work being conducted with the MeerKAT radio telescope. We're joined by Dr Paola Serra from the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory in Italy. He chats with us about the MeerKAT Fornax Survey and the search for the missing gas in the Fornax galaxy cluster. The post Episode 32: The MeerKAT Fornax Survey appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This year we get off with a bang as our very own Jacinta has a new paper out and takes her turn in the hot seat to tell us all about it! Along with her colleagues, she has been part of the discovery of two giant radio galaxies using South Africa's powerful MeerKAT telescope. These galaxies are amongst the largest single objects in the Universe and are thought to be quite rare. The fact that MeerKAT detected two of these monsters in a relatively small patch of the sky suggests that giant radio galaxies may actually be much more common than previously thought. The post Episode 31: Cosmic Beasts and Where to Find Them appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This holiday bonus episode is a re-run of Episode 5 from Season 1. We chat about about supermassive black holes, the Event Horizon Telescope and the African Millimetre Telescope. This bonus episode is in celebration of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics which was awarded to three astrophysicists for their black hole-related research. The post Bonus: Rerun – Event Horizon Telescope appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

Kelebogile Bonokwane talks with us about her MSc project investigating potential binary stars hiding in the centres of magnificent planetary nebulae. Her work utilises the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) as well as NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The post Episode 30: Pretty Planetary Nebulae appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This week we learn all about neutron stars and pulsars, which can be thought of as the "corpses" of dead giant stars. We are firstly joined by Prof Matthew Bailes who tells us all about using the MeerKAT telescope to study pulsars. We then hear from award-winning science journalist Katia Moskvitch about her new book "Neutron stars: The Quest to Understand the Zombies of the Cosmos." The post Episode 29: Zombies of the Cosmos appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

Join us this week as we explore the 'Intimate Cosmology' of the indigenous people of South Africa, and the importance of preserving these stories for future generations. Check out the full show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah.com for more info, pictures, related links and the full transcript. The post Episode 28: Under a Shared Sky appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

This week's episode sees us celebrate SAAO's 200th anniversary, Dan premiering a full-length planetarium show, and the inspiring work being done by The Travelling Telescope in Kenya. Check out the full show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah.com for more info, pictures, related links and the full transcript. The post Episode 27: A Bamboo Planetarium appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

Welcome to Season 3 of The Cosmic Savannah! This week we get up to speed with all the activities over the break, hear from Assoc Prof Vanessa McBride joins about the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) and her role as Head of Research at the SAAO, and her own research in the field of compact binary stars. We also discuss the objectives of the OAD, acknowledging South Africa's difficult past, in striving for an equal and inclusive future for all, in astronomy and beyond. Check out the show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah.com for more info, pictures, links, and the transcript of this episode. The post Episode 26: Beyond 200 years of astronomy in South Africa appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

In this mini episode, we chat to Andrew “Andy” Firth, a Masters students at the South African Astronomical Observatory and the University of Cape Town. Andrew tries to detect the faint signals of hydrogen gas in distant galaxies. He is creating an algorithm for stacking data cubes of these galaxies. This clever new technique will be used alongside high-quality MeerKAT radio telescope data. Check out the show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah.com for more info, pictures, links and the transcript of this episode. The post Mini Episode: Capturing the whispers of hydrogen appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

Today we chat with Sambatriniaina Rajohnson about her work on the Galactic Plane Survey and the Zone of Avoidance. Check out the full show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah for more info, pictures, related links and the full transcript. The post Mini Episode: Beyond the zone of avoidance appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.