PODCAST

The Cosmic Savannah

A podcast showcasing world-class astronomy under African skies.

science astronomy

All Episodes

53:02

Episode 50: Titans of Astronomy

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2022/03/03

In celebration of our 50th Episode, we are joined by a Titan of Astronomy, Dr Bernie Fanaroff, who speaks with us about his illustrious career and his vision for the future of astronomy in Africa The post Episode 50: Titans of Astronomy appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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51:46

Episode 49: SALT Spectroscopy

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2022/02/14

This episode is in celebration of the IAU Women and Girls in Astronomy Month in February. We speak with Dr Elizabeth Naluminsa who is one of the first Ugandan women to obtain her PhD in astronomy is now working with instrumentation on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). The post Episode 49: SALT Spectroscopy appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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41:08

Episode 48: ATLAS – Holding up the Heavens!

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2022/02/01

We're joined by SAAO Astronomer Dr Nic Erasmus who has been responsible for the newest telescope on the SAAO site (And he's just had a comet named after him!) Sutherland has become the latest observatory to host an asteroid tracking system funded by NASA! The post Episode 48: ATLAS – Holding up the Heavens! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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42:08

Episode 47: SALT and Near-Earth Asteroids (re-run)

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2022/01/27

This is a re-run of the very first episode of The Cosmic Savannah! We're re-running it in preparation for our next episode where we'll be speaking again with Nic for some exciting updates. In Episode 1, we introduce ourselves and our vision for the podcast. SALT Astronomer Dr Moses Mogotsi then describes what it's like to use the biggest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere (from 00:12m). Lastly, Dr Nicolas Erasmus tells us about the hunt for near-earth asteroids (from 00:23m) using the

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44:18

Episode 46: A crash of clusters

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/12/06

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Kenda Knowles. Kenda has just released a beautiful new dataset called the MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey (MGCLS). The survey contains images of the radio emission from 115 clusters of galaxies! The post Episode 46: A crash of clusters appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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35:53

Episode 45: The James Webb Space Telescope

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/11/22

The long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope will finally launch into space on December 18 2021! In this episode we are joined by Prof Christy Tremonti who is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is an observational astronomer who works on galaxy evolution and stellar feedback processes. Christy speaks with us about her work, the JWST and the exciting future that awaits! The post Episode 45: The James Webb Space Telescope appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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51:43

Episode 44: Stars behaving badly! (Re-run)

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/11/08

We are joined by two experts in stellar astronomy, Priscilla Muheki from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda and Distinguished Professor Hakeem Oluseyi from the Florida Institute of Technology. Priscilla talks about her PhD research in Uganda studying violent outbursts, known as coronal mass ejections, from certain types of stars. Hakeem then goes on the explain these coronal mass ejections and the violent magnetic fields associated with them, and what effect they may have on both

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45:05

Episode 43: The search for hidden hydrogen

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/10/25

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Tariq Blecher and Shilpa Ranchod who talk to us about the clever ways they are trying to capture the elusive signals of hydrogen gas in the distant Universe. The post Episode 43: The search for hidden hydrogen appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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49:16

Episode 42: Rockin’ all over the World

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/10/11

We are joined by Dr Eugene Grosch who is a geologist and petrologist at Rhodes University in South Africa to discuss how planets create the building blocks for life! The post Episode 42: Rockin’ all over the World appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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41:25

Episode 41: How to Train Your Galaxy

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/09/27

We are joined by Dr Rob Yates, from the University of Surrey, who chats with us about how to recreate the formation of galaxies inside a supercomputer! The post Episode 41: How to Train Your Galaxy appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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53:45

Episode 40: The mystery of the Fast Radio Burst

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/09/13

This episode we speak with Dr Marisa Geyer. She is a pulsar astronomer and Commissioning Scientist at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) in Cape Town, South Africa. MeerKAT telescope. She also explains her research on pulsars and mysterious Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). We don't yet know what causes FRBs, but Marisa reveals some enticing clues! The post Episode 40: The mystery of the Fast Radio Burst appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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33:23

Episode 39: Erupting novae

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/08/30

In this week's episode, we are joined by Dr Miriam Nyamai who studies thermonuclear eruptions on the surface of white dwarf stars! Miriam explains how these "novae" eruptions occur and what we can learn from them. She also describes her role as a postdoctoral researcher hunting for transient events in the sky using radio telescopes such as MeerKAT. The post Episode 39: Erupting novae appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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43:27

Episode 38: Rise of the machines

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/08/16

We are joined by Dr Michelle Lochner who is a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa. Michelle is developing new machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to analyse the massive astronomical datasets of next- generation telescopes. The post Episode 38: Rise of the machines appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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53:34

Episode 37: Square Kilometre Array telescope is go...

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/08/02

Welcome to Season Four! We start with a bang and speak with the Director General of the Square Kilometre Array Telescope, Prof Phil Diamond! Phil tells us how it feels to finally have the green light for construction of this giant telescope, after nearly 30 years of preparation. The post Episode 37: Square Kilometre Array telescope is go for construction! appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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30:32

Episode 36: A Year in Review

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/04/01

Episode 36 marks the second anniversary of The Cosmic Savannah. We take the opportunity to reflect on what has been a very different year, but not without some great fun and highlights. Jacinta and Dan talk through some of their favourite moments from the past year. The post Episode 36: Another Year in Review appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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43:18

Episode 35: Rising Stars

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/03/18

This week we feature some rising stars in African Astronomy! We're joined by high school learners Indiphile Madletyana and Thabo Maliea who both show great promise as aspiring astronomers, as well as Masters students Sumari Hattingh and Reikantseone Diretse who discuss studies of galaxy clusters using the Hubble Space Telescope. Check out the show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah.com for related links, pics, info and the full transcript. The post Episode 35: Rising Stars appeared first on The Cosmic

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43:58

Episode 34: The Life Cycle of Galaxies

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/03/04

This episode we hear from a familiar voice! SALT Astronomer Dr Moses Mogotsi was our first ever guest on The Cosmic Savannah. He joins us again to explain what it's like to observe in the time of COVID and to tell us more about his research on galaxies. We learn about how observing galaxies in different wavelengths and with different telescopes can add to our overall understanding of how galaxies evolve. Check out the show notes at www.thecosmicsavannah.com for related links, pics, info and the full

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30:17

Episode 33: Mars Rovers and the South African...

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/02/16

with Tiaan Strydom February 18 2021 will see NASA’s latest Mars Rover, Perseverance, land on the red planet. We are joined by Tiaan Strydom, the Business Development Manager at the […] The post Episode 33: Mars Rovers and the South African National Space Agency appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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27:49

Episode 32: The MeerKAT Fornax Survey

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/02/04

In this episode we will be discussing some more exciting work being conducted with the MeerKAT radio telescope. We're joined by Dr Paola Serra from the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory in Italy. He chats with us about the MeerKAT Fornax Survey and the search for the missing gas in the Fornax galaxy cluster. The post Episode 32: The MeerKAT Fornax Survey appeared first on The Cosmic Savannah.

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37:00

Episode 31: Cosmic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The Cosmic Savannah ·

2021/01/18

This year we get off with a bang as our very own Jacinta has a new paper out and takes her turn in the hot seat to tell us all about it! Along with her colleagues, she has been part of the discovery of two giant radio galaxies using South Africa's powerful MeerKAT telescope. These galaxies are amongst the largest single objects in the Universe and are thought to be quite rare. The fact that MeerKAT detected two of these monsters in a relatively small patch of the sky suggests that giant radio

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