Category Archives: News and Updates

News about Astronomy and Space Science. Find every news item and update here, in blog format. You can get these updates sent straight to your mailbox by subscribing here, or you can subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking the link.

Public Lecture: Update on SKA

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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 →

Student Project: Globe-spanning cosmic ray telescope

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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 →

Watching stuff fall into a black hole

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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 →

ScopeX 2012 feedback

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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 →

Moon Landing 43 years ago today

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I can’t believe I almost missed it but today, 20 July 2012, marks the 43rd anniversary of Neil Armstrong planting his boot on lunar soil and uttering those immortal lines “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind“.  Although, weirdly, many people seem to think that it never happened!  I have never bothered writing my opinion about that, because the clip below sums it up so much better than I could:

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