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!
The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is actually two showers radiating from points within the same region of sky, and which overlap on the calendar. The Northern shower runs from July 16 to September 10, peaking on 13/14 August, while the Southern delta aquarids cover the period from July 14 to August 18 and peak on 29/30 July. These showers favour us in the Southern Hemisphere, partly because their radiants are high up in our skies, and partly because they peak … Continue reading →
Prof. Claude Carignan, an SKA SARCHI Chair based at UCT will give an “Update on SKA” on Saturday, July 28 at 20h00. This is a free lecture hosted by S.A. Astronomical Observatory. During his talk, he will highlight the three phases detailing how the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project will be realised. Summary of the talk: On May 25, it was officially announced that South Africa had won the bid to build the largest radio telescope ever built: the Square … Continue reading →
The Enegetic Ray Global Observatory (ERGO) project is an ambitious attempt to equip students and teachers around the world with cosmic ray detectors which they can use in the classroom. Students could monitor the cosmic ray flux passing through the unit at different times of day to see if is variable, or they could move it to the tops of tall buildings, to see how the flux is affected. But the units serve a grander purpose: Each one is connected … Continue reading →
It’s commonly known amongst astronomers, if not so much amongst the general public, that if you head outside and look up at the constellation of Sagittarius, you’ll be directly facing a vast black hole, millions of times more massive than the Sun. This beast dwells at the very core of the Milky Way galaxy, stirring up all the material for light years around and devouring anything that approaches too directly. It’s hard to see because there are such vast clouds … Continue reading →
Scopex2012 As promised, I took a drive down to Johannesburg to the National Military History museum where the annual ScopeX ATM fair was held. I listened to a talk, I watched the auction and the prize-giving, and strolled through the rows and rows of lovingly built telescopes arranged between the old tanks and aeroplanes. It was lovely, but I had to cut the visit short so that I could help my wife prepare for what must have been the world’s … Continue reading →
