150 episodes
Looking Up Fine Music Radio
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- Society & Culture
Five minutes at the end of each week explores the big and the small questions in astronomy, cosmology, and space science. Hosted by Kechil Kirkham, no subject is too big or too small, and experts are regularly brought on board to illuminate and excite. Cape Town is the place to be for astronomy, with some of the largest telescopes in the world housed or being built not too far away. Looking Up takes advantage of the shoals of scientists and engineers working on the planet’s most advanced astronomy projects, who live and work right here in the Mother City. Kechil has recently acquired an MPhil in Space Studies at the University of Cape Town, and works in South Africa’s space industry on the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.
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Looking Up - 08 May 24 - New Boeing Starliner capsule
Two items: the recently postponed launch of the new Boeing Starliner capsule and what will those astronauts wear? Plus, a new find: a very massive stellar black hole in our galaxy, 33 times the mass of our Sun.
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Looking Up - 01 May 24 - K2-18 b
K2-18 b may be the location for our first detection of alien life. We will have to wait a few months for results of recent observations to become available. Spoiler alert: probably not life you could enjoy a cup of tea and a cosy fireside chat with.
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Looking Up - 24 April 24 - 49 new galaxies detected by Dr Marcin Glowacki
Dr Marcin Glowacki shares his brand new research, in which he has detected 49 new galaxies while he was looking for something else! Marcin and Kechil discuss star-forming galaxies.
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Looking Up - 17 April 24 - Fast Radio Bursts
Fast Radio Bursts: can we ever see them? What are they? Masters student Kira Hanmer is among the first in the world ever to go looking for these unexplained phenomena in the optical realm.
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Looking Up - 10 April 24 - PhD student Venu Prayag shares his interest in technosignatures
Second year PhD student Venu Prayag shares his interest in technosignatures: a method of detecting alien activity emanating from planets outside of our solar system. He's optimistic we will find these soon, and with the South African instrument, MeerKAT, in the Northern Cape!
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Looking Up - 03 April 24 - There will be a solar eclipse on 8 April
There will be a solar eclipse on 8 April visible over Mexico, the southern and eastern United States, and part of Canada. It will not be visible over this continent. There are all manner of nutty things being said about it on the Internet. Enjoy!