Looking Up - 11 May 2018

We think of astronomy as looking at the stars, but there's other ways that southern african observatories are contributing to a fuller picture of what the universe is like. Professor Christo Venter, an astrophysicist from North West University, tells us about gamma rays and about the gamma ray detector in Namibia.

What has accountancy got to do with astronomy? What has fake statistics got to do with astronomy? Benford's Law has been applied to data we have about the size of exoplanets with excellent results.

TESS and the exoplanets. Find out about a new satellite sent up to survey planets orbiting around distant stars. We will for sure find many Earth-like planets, some perhaps in the 'Goldilocks zone'.

Have you ever wondered what is there on the Dark Side of the Moon? Soon, we may know. A South African company is involved in a fascinating unmanned mission to land on the far side and carry out scientific investigations. But in order to communicate back to Earth, a communications satellite is needed. The Moon presents the same face to Earth so the far side is always facing away from us. This Chang'e 4 mission, run by the Chinese National Space Administration, has many facets including a lander, 2 orbiters and the communications satellite, and telling us about them is Dr Francois Malan of Space Advisory Company, which has developed certain components for the mission. There will be more broadcasts about this complex mission in the future, as we explore the Moon's mysterious nether regions.

Dr Fernando Camilo, Chief Scientist at SARAO, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, proudly tells us of the first scientific paper to be published using observations from MEERKAT. This is a brand new telescope being built in the Karoo, which will soon be the largest of its kind in the world. The observation was of a magnetar 'going off' - this is the most magnetic object known in the universe and quite rare. This science enlarges our understanding of these exotic stars. The paper, in the Astrophysical Journal, is published today.

Case Rijsdijk is the President of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, amongst many responsibilities he shoulders. He continues to make a difference, being a leading light in South Africa's physics teaching programmes. He teaches physics teachers throughout the land, helped by the SA Institute of Physics and is instrumental in the Olympiads through ASTEMI (http://www.astemi.co.za/), Kechil interviews Case about the challenges in teaching physics, and the false stereotypes that hold back interest in this subject.

You may remember a very special space mission to Pluto called New Horizons which took unprecedented images of our furthest planet. That was in 2015, but the mission has not come to an end. Assistant Project Scientist Anne Verbiscer has been visiting Cape Town and tells us what is planned for the New Horizons spacecraft, and its flyby of Ultima Thule in 2019.

Most of you radio listeners will have heard that the cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking died on 14th March, which happens to be the day Einstein was born, and is International Pi Day. Not as in meat pie, but the number Pi, since the date in American is 3.14, the value of Pi. This is all entirely appropriate.

Astronomy and Art: Lucia Marchetti tells us about a fabulous art project involving astronomy and the people who live around astronomical sites and those who work in the field. Go to Company's Gardens to see part of the installation, and the rest in the Iziko Museum: https://www.hemelliggaam.com/