Tag Archives: Telescope

Podcast #33: Jean-Pierre Grootaerd

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Welcome to the 33rd episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast. This is a special release, featuring an interview that I recorded for ScopeX, the biggest astronomy and telescope event in South Africa. Jean-Pierre Grootaerd, through SSVI (which translates in English to Stars Shine for Everyone), has donated a pair of 90mm refracting telescopes to ScopeX, for us to hand over to whoever is best able to use them to advance science education in South Africa. Since he isn’t able to come … Continue reading →

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Podcast #26: Neville Young

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This is the 26th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast, where we get back to our original focus of interviewing people involved in South African astronomy. Whether they’re professional or amateur, South African, or merely visiting to do astronomy under our clear skies through our world-class observatories, we want to talk to them.  In this episode, we chat with Neville Young. Neville Young Neville has been a member of the Pretoria center of the Astronomical Society of South Africa since the … Continue reading →

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Podcast #10: Engineering SALT with Deon Bester

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Thanks for waiting!  Episode 10 of the Urban Astronomer Podcast has finally arrived, and this week we feature an interview with Deon Bester.  Deon is an engineer, who worked on the Southern African Large Telescope for many years, designing the control systems that keep the telescope working through the night. In our conversation we cover many topics.  Deon’s experience as a test engineer, working with Labview, led to him getting employed by the SALT project.  We discuss the teething troubles … Continue reading →

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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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Podcast #6: Building telescopes

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Welcome to the 6th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast. This is the second part of our interview with Chris Stewart, one of the names behind the Amateur Telescope Making class in Johannesburg, one of the organisers of the annual ScopeX telescope and astronomy expo, and director of the Astronomical Society of South Africa’s Instrumentation section. In this part, he talks about the pros and cons of different telescope designs, how to make them, how to select an eyepiece, and … Continue reading →

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