We've heard of gravitational waves, which are being detected by laser interferometers in different parts of the world. But these are detecting high-frequency waves caused by dramatic events such as the collision of supermassive black holes. There is an experiment going on to show that the universe is bathed in a sea of low-frequency gravitational waves.

What is Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage and what will it do for you? The answer is that this technique will enable astronomers to see further, better, when applying Very Large Baseline Interferometry to the optical realm. And if you're not sure how this impacts you - well it could be the difference between finding planets with unnatural gases in their atmospheres (aliens!), or missing them entirely.

A second image has recently been taken around a black hole, and here Kechil interviews one of the researchers, Prof Roger Deane, Director of the Wits Centre for Astrophysics. He tells us why this is an especially important image, as it can be used to test Einstein's theories. This work could only have been done in the Southern Hemisphere since the black hole is at the middle of our own Milky Way, and you can't see that in the north.

What is the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group and what does it do? It's hard not to be flippant about this subject, but it is interesting how many aerial phenomena defy explanation.

Some listeners may have heard the term 'machine learning'. This is highly critical for modern astronomy, where computers take vast amounts of data from astronomical observations and sift through it to detect patterns or find anomalies. To put it in context for us is Dr Jasper Horrell who works at the University of Cape Town at the Inter-university Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy and also runs a company, Deep Data, using machine learning for security applications. You can find out more at www.deepdata.works. Astronomers these days must also be data scientists and computer geeks - it's a good thing we're living longer, that's a lot of learning to do.

Would you like to live on Mars? A recent report suggests that solar technology may be feasible for establishing a small colony.

NASA has created a wonderful sonification (sound picture) of planets outside of our solar system. This comes with pretty visuals. It's lovely to listen to, and to get a feel for how many exoplanets we've detected and their characteristics.

The Orion spacecraft will sit atop a rocket and will take humans to the Moon and beyond in the not-too-distant future. Hear all about it!

NASA has created a wonderful sonification (sound picture) of planets outside of our solar system. This comes with pretty visuals. It's lovely to listen to, and to get a feel for how many exoplanets we've detected and their characteristics.

Not every student who studies astronomy will go on to be an astronomer. In fact only a minority will do so. What do they do when they've completed a PhD or Masters? The EU-funded SKIES project is designed to help students navigate the world out there, and here are Michelle Willebrand from Leiden University in The Netherlands, and Lucia Marchetti, a lecturer in astronomy from the University of Cape Town, talking about training that's taken place this week at the UCT Graduate School of Business.