Author Archives: Allen Versfeld

About Allen Versfeld

Allen is an amateur astronomer, an IT professional, a podcaster, a father of five growing kids, a barely competent chess player, and the owner and publisher of the Urban Astronomer podcast and website. He has formerly served as Director of the Astrophotography and Citizen Science sections of the Astronomical Society of South Africa. You can find his personal social media feed on Mastodon!

Podcast #9: Interview with Sibusiso Biyela

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Welcome to the ninth episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast, featuring South African science communicator and journalist Sibusiso Biyela.  I am on holiday with my family at the moment, so in order to find a quiet spot away from chattering kiddies, this episode was recorded next to an icy mountain stream in the Central Drakensberg mountain range. Sadly, despite the time of year, it’s been consistently overcast so no astronomical observing for me! I was at least able to put together … Continue reading →

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KELT-11b: an unusually puffy exoplanet

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In the constellation of the Sextant, lies a star, invisible to the naked eye. Until recently it was known only by its catalogue number HD93396. But recently, a robotic telescope in Sutherland, South Africa, called KELT-South noticed something unusual about it.  Every 4.7 days, it’s light would dim slightly, for seven hours.  KELT-South had found an exoplanet. The project scientists renamed the star KELT-11, and the planet KELT-11b. KELT-South is one of a pair of robotic telescopes. The name is an … Continue reading →

Podcast #8: Venus, KELT-11b and Blood Moon Pregnancies

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Welcome to the 8th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast!  This week, Cathrine continues her series on The Planets with the hottest world in our Solar System: Venus.  Allen then reports on the discovery, by a telescope at SAAO’s facility in Sutherland, of KELT-11b, an unusually inflated exoplanet.  And finally we look at what is apparently a common question in parts of the world: Is it safe to watch a Lunar Eclipse, while pregnant? This is Cathrine’s second appearance in … Continue reading →

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Podcast #7: Interview with Niel Viljoen of Telescope Shop

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Hi and welcome to the 7th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast! This episode was dropped in the middle of the Easter weekend, so in deference to the season we’ve got a brief segment based on one of Urban Astronomer’s religiously themed articles: How is astronomy used to calculate the dates of religious festivals? And our feature item is another interview! This time around, I managed to get a hold of Neil Viljoen, who owns Telescope Shop, one of the … Continue reading →

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