
Invisibility: could it be made a reality? Well not unless you want to be turned into a gas and cooled down to absolute zero. But recent experiments have inched towards this, and could solve problems of information leakage in quantum computers
Nov 26, 2021
4 min

Who was Vera C Rubin and why does she have a major telescope named after her? Here to tell us is the author of a recent biography of this important astronomer, Jacqueline Mitton. She herself is an astronomer from Cambridge, UK and her book is available from loot and is called Vera Rubin: A life by Jacqueline Mitton and Simon Mitton. It is published by Belknap Press, an imprint of Harvard University Press, ISBN 9780674919198
She is giving a talk via zoom at the local astronomy society on 24th November at 19:30 which you are welcome to join. Here are the joining instructions:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89645785875?pwd=SW5jamxjT3dNaHFpY2FVbDlSaTZQUT09
Meeting ID: 896 4578 5875
Passcode: 006588
Nov 19, 2021
4 min

One of the delights of living in this part of the world is the Karoo night skies. Enjoy them at their best by visiting the Leeuwenboschfontein Observatory and you can find details of where it is and when the observatory is open to the public on https://www.leeuwenboschfontein.co.za/pages/lbf-astronomical-observatory/
Nov 12, 2021
4 min

Tourists have been getting in the way of a Mars simulation project. Why would they do that?
Nov 5, 2021
4 min

The Sky Guide Africa South 2022 is now available at bookshops. Published by Struik Nature it is a terrific little book for anyone wishing to know what's up.
It's conference season, but many of the usual conference goers are staying at home, and it's not just because of covid. Sending things into the atmosphere is bad.
Oct 29, 2021
5 min

The European and Japanese space agencies have sent craft Bepicolombo to investigate Mercury, and after 3 years it's arrived. Kechil describes something of this interesting mission. Also, fun in space! Star Trek's Captain Kirk has finally actually gone into space, plus the Russians are making a film aboard the International Space Station.
Oct 15, 2021
4 min

NASA is to soon launch a new mission called Lucy to examine the Trojan asteroids which circle around Jupiter. It's a 12-year mission, and will find out about the formation of the outer planets, amongst other things we don't know about yet.
Oct 8, 2021
4 min

Dr Sudanshu Barway, formerly of the South African Astronomical Observatory and now at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, talks about an extraordinary observation of 3 merging galaxies each with supermassive black holes. These will eventually collide, but thankfully not for a very long time.
Oct 1, 2021
4 min

A new gravitational wave detector has observed a couple of wobbles. Is this some new exotic phenomenon in deep space or is it something going on in the instrument? We don't know. Even if we could discount discrepancies inside the detector we still wouldn't know for sure! Mysteries abound.
Sep 24, 2021
4 min

What is SpaceX up to now? Well at this moment a crew of 4 is hurtling around planet Earth to raise money for a children's hospital, among other things. And they are all wearing SpaceX spacesuits. I want one!
Sep 17, 2021
4 min
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