Looking Up - 30 November 2018

The International Space Station crew have been re-supplied. After a drama last October when a mission to the ISS failed and two crew members survived by aborting and parachuting in a capsule back down to Earth, two unmanned robotic missions have succeeded this last week.

In days gone by people sat around fires at night and told stories, and many of these were about the night skies. Well in fact people still do this, and to tell us about different cultures and how they interpret the night sky is Dr Kerry Jones, a local linguist who studies and works with First Peoples' languages.

How many planets are there in our solar system and what is the mysterious Planet 9, and The Goblin? There remain many mysteries still in our own astronomical back yard.

The Kepler Space Telescope has come to the end of its working life. Kechil gives a round-up of its achievements in looking for planets around distant stars, and reminds us it's not long since we didn't know for sure that there were any other planets in the universe.

Don't get hit by an asteroid from outer space! You may be glad to know that Prof. John Tonry and Larry Denneau from the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy are looking out for you. They'll be mounting a telescope in South Africa as part of their project. The ATLAS programme (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) surveys the area in the solar system around Earth as an early warning system in case anything threatens our existence. It's highly unlikely that they will find a NEO (Near-Earth Object) but you never know, and then it's up to Tom Cruise to save the day! Or some other method we haven't tested yet to nudge the rock out the way.

How do you enjoy astronomy? Kechil Kirkham and Wendy Vermeulen, after watching a thrilling show at The Planetarium, chat about how the public can get involved. In particular there is International Observe the Moon Night at the V&A Waterfront on 20th October, Open Nights at the Observatory on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month (www.saao.ac.za), and of course you are welcome to join the astronomy society by emailing [email protected] or come along on the 2nd Wednesday of each month to the Auditorium at the Observatory.

Drama in Space!

The failure of the Soyuz capsule as it aborted its mission on Thursday has ramifications for the International Space Station. Fortunately the two astronauts on board the Soyuz launch returned to Earth safely, if a little uncomfortably, but now there are 3 astronauts on board the ageing ISS and no resupply mission as planned. NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, will have to mak 'n plan!

Local telescope MEERKAT to join the search for signs of extraterrestrial technology. Breakthrough Listen is a project run by SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and SARAO, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory. Its work will be given a major boost by the powerful MEERKAT telescope. But will they find anything?

The life of an astronomer: what do astronomers actually do all day, or all night? Listen to an interview with student Julia Healy, who is performing research (live, on Fine Music Radio!) for her PhD at the University of Cape Town and the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. This recording was taken in Cape Town on the day of broadcast, 28 September, at 9am, after Julia had been observing since 3am. So astronomers do sometimes observe at night, but no longer with eye at an eyepiece, as you will hear.