The Cosmic Savannah

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 Wisconsi…

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 …

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.

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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 …

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 a…

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 telesc…

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 le…

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 (…

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…

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 D…

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…

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 COV…

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 Episo…

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 …

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 …

This holiday bonus episode is a re-run of Episode 5 from Season 1. We chat about about supermassive black holes, the Event Horizon Telescope and the African Millimetre Telescope. This bonus episode i…

Kelebogile Bonokwane talks with us about her MSc project investigating potential binary stars hiding in the centres of magnificent planetary nebulae. Her work utilises the Southern African Large Tele…

This week we learn all about neutron stars and pulsars, which can be thought of as the "corpses" of dead giant stars. We are firstly joined by Prof Matthew Bailes who tells us all about using the Mee…

Join us this week as we explore the 'Intimate Cosmology' of the indigenous people of South Africa, and the importance of preserving these stories for future generations. Check out the full show notes…

This week's episode sees us celebrate SAAO's 200th anniversary, Dan premiering a full-length planetarium show, and the inspiring work being done by The Travelling Telescope in Kenya.
Check out the fu…