After studying at the University of Göttingen in Germany, Christian came to Cape Town in 2006 for three months in order to help with the PIPT. Three months turned into six, a year, and he somehow still hasn’t left, (editor: which is excellent news for SALT!) That gives him the opportunity to work on the PIPT, dabble with the Web Manager, help with Open Nights, and reply to emails sent to salthelp.

When he’s not busy with his work, he enjoys reading books and going for a run. He thinks that his age of 42 would be a good reason to try a marathon, but still needs some persuasion in this regard. One of his flaws is that after so many years he hasn’t managed to master the click sounds in the South African language isiXhosa.

Image credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Outer space looks black, at least relative to our eyes, but it wasn’t always the case!

Straight after the big bang, the Universe was a VERY hot dense place, too hot for atoms to form. It was a hot soup of subatomic particles, such as electrons and ions, called plasma. During this phase, light particles aka photons were continuously absorbed (more precisely scattered) by the subatomic particles in the Universe, in other words light was trapped by these subatomic particles, meaning the Universe was a dark “opaque” place. As space expanded, the Universe cooled down. After around 380,000 years from the big bang the Universe cooled enough for atoms to form. At this stage, known as the recombination era, electrons and nuclei combined to form atoms. These were mainly helium and hydrogen, which are still by far the most abundant elements in the Universe.

During the recombination era, the photons trapped by the subatomic particles were freed and the Universe for the very first time became “transparent”. We can resemble what happened to a flash of infinite number of light bulbs, more precisely orange light bulbs. Indeed, the electromagnetic radiations emitted during the recombination era were orange, and hence space was orange. While the Universe continuously expanded with time, these orange electromagnetic radiations were stretching into longer and longer wavelengths (redshifted). In a few million years, the orange radiation shifted toward the red and eventually infra-red to become microwave after around 13 billion years. This radiation is everywhere in the Universe but since our eyes are not sensitive to microwave, relative to us, space is black and of course not orange anymore. It was in 1964 when these microwave radiations were accidentally discovered by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. The two American astronomers were experimenting with their 6 meter radio telescope by pointing it towards different locations in the sky. In whatever direction they pointed their telescope, they detected a low, steady, mysterious noise in the microwave that persisted in their receiver. This microwave noise was indeed the afterglow of the big bang which we now call the Cosmic Microwave Background. It is the fingerprint of the big bang and one of the basis of the big bang theory.

Large telescopes like SALT allow us to look further back in time, unveiling the mysteries of space.

Moral of the story: Black is the new orange!!

** Elias Aydi is a PhD astronomy student.

Dr Rosalind Skelton

Dr Rosalind Skelton, known to all as Ros, has been part of the SALT Astronomy team for just over a year.

How did you become an astronomer?

I grew up in Rustenburg in the North West province of South Africa and spent many happy camping trips in the bushveld with my family, where the beautiful dark skies were endlessly fascinating. My curiosity about the Universe and love of maths and science led me to study Physics at the University of Cape Town. My elective courses in Astronomy were always my favourite (who wouldn’t love afternoon tutorials in the Planetarium, with the inspiring Tony Fairall as our guide to the night sky?). I joined the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) for my Masters, where I started my first research in extragalactic astronomy. I then took a somewhat circuitous route around the world, spending almost 7 years abroad before returning to Cape Town. I did my PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, and a postdoc at Yale University in the USA before taking up a postdoctoral fellowship at the Observatory and then joining the SALT team last year.

What is your research on?

My research is on galaxy formation and evolution. I am particularly interested in the effects of environment on the quenching of star formation and the growth of galaxies. I am looking at how mergers and close companion galaxies impact galaxy properties in different environments, from the field to rich clusters, and at different times in the Universe’s history. I am part of the 3D-HST team, which has used exquisite Hubble Space Telescope data to study changes in galaxy populations from the “cosmic noon” (redshifts of approximately 1 to 2.5), when galaxies formed the bulk of their stars, to today.

What is your role on the SALT team?

As an extragalactic astronomer, I mainly make use of the long-slit and multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) capabilities of the RSS for my own research. I would like to improve the usability of SALT’s MOS tools, from the mask design software to the data reduction pipelines. I am the liaison astronomer for many of the MOS programmes and I manage the mask cutting process, as well as regularly observing on SALT.

What have been some of the challenges you’ve faced?

Apart from getting through a PhD in Astronomy, dealing with ups and downs in confidence at different stages and the cultural challenges of moving to new countries, I think the hardest thing has probably been the uncertainty along the way, not knowing whether I would get a job in this field that I love, while being able to stay in a place that I love near people I love. I feel very privileged to be part of the SALT team, to regularly spend time in the peaceful Karoo and continue working on the challenges of galaxy evolution in the Mother City.

What do you enjoy doing outside of astronomy?

I love dancing lindy hop, the vintage swing dancing style that developed with the big band jazz of the 1930s and 40s. Since its revival in the 1980s, lindy hop has become a global phenomenon, and our vibrant scene here in Cape Town is growing in leaps and bounds.

Image credit: Dr Tim-Oliver Husser. The closed ox-wagon encases the massdimm telescope, which has the sole task of measuring the twinkling of the stars.

The more scientific term for twinkling, and the one you’ll hear people at the Observatory referring to, is “the seeing”. The latter is caused by disturbances in the atmosphere, and the more turbulent it is, the more stars will appear to twinkle, the worse “the seeing” will be. For the purposes of astronomy, the more stable the atmosphere is, the better the science will be.

When the object you’re looking at, like a star, is being subjected to bad seeing, it will look much bigger and fluffier than it actually is. Think of a hosepipe where you can adjust the water setting: if you have it set to a fine misty spray, the water is scattered in a wide arc. When you have it set to a single jet of water, it sprays in a direct stream to the point you’re aiming. Similarly, when the seeing is good the starlight is arriving in a direct stream and more can be collected, therefore better quality science can be achieved.

Don’t twinkle, please don’t twinkle, little star…

Astronomer Dr Rudi Kuhn

It all started with a small boy having a big dream

Dr Rudi Kuhn was only five years old when his dad taught him the names of the planets in our solar system, which at the time still included Pluto before it was demoted to a dwarf planet. From that moment, his fascination with the mysteries of space took root. After saving his pocket money for two years, Kuhn bought his first telescope at the age of eight. This telescope is still in his office today.

After a short career in the IT industry, he chose to follow his passion

When Kuhn shared his intention of becoming an astronomer with a high school career counsellor in the late 1990s, he was quickly discouraged from pursuing this dream, the reason being a lack of job opportunities. “It was the era when the only respectable careers involved becoming either a doctor, accountant or teacher,” explains Kuhn. He consequently qualified as an IT technician and travelled to England to work there, like so many school leavers at the time.

But Kuhn’s passion for astronomy never went away. During his time in England, he did some research to explore his options and came across the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) offered at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Upon returning to South Africa, Kuhn was faced with a life-altering decision: on the same day, he received a job offer for a respectable position in IT, as well as his letter of acceptance from UCT. Although he was aware of the sacrifices involved in returning to university, Kuhn chose to follow his childhood dream – and he has not looked back since.

The image above is KELT: Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope.

Becoming an astronomer is a long but very rewarding journey

It took twelve years in total to complete his studies and qualify as an astronomer. “It was a tough journey. I now know that ‘imposture syndrome’ is a very real thing,” says Kuhn with a laugh. “There were numerous times during my PhD when I felt I wasn’t good enough to make it.” But in the end his perseverance and dedication paid off.

It also turns out that Kuhn’s IT skills were not wasted. “A significant part of working in astronomy is reducing and interpreting the massive amounts of data we receive from the telescopes when we do observations,” explains Kuhn. This requires programming skills, which means that in the end his experience in IT is proving very valuable in his job as an astronomer.

 Being involved in building a telescope from scratch was a definite highlight

One of the highlights during Kuhn’s studies was helping to build the KELT-South telescope in Sutherland as part of his PhD. KELT stands for Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope and its main purpose is to look for transiting exoplanets. “I have a keen interest in the different instruments used in telescopes, such as the camera and spectrograph,” explains Kuhn. “Being physically involved in the process of building a telescope was therefore an amazing experience.”

To infinity and beyond…

So what is so inspiring about astronomy? “The sheer size and scope of the universe,” says Kuhn excitedly. “The ‘Hubble Ultra Deep Field’ image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope is one of my favourite images of space,” he explains. The image shows about 10 000 galaxies, each containing up to hundreds of billions of stars, covering billions of light years. And the best part? “This is just a small sample – there are up to 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe alone. Who knows what we might discover in future?”

The brightnesses of stars and other astronomical bodies are measured on the magnitude scale. For historical reasons the fainter the star the higher the magnitude assigned to it. The faintest object we can see with the naked eye has a magnitude of 6. The faintest object which SALT can see has a magnitude of 23. This is particularly impressive since magnitude is based on a logarithmic scale. The magnitude difference of 5 units means that the amount of light received actually differs by a factor of 100. The difference in sensitivity between the naked eye (mag 6) and SALT (mag 23) is 17 units, which means that SALT is able to see objects more than 6 million times fainter than humans can see.

Other than the moon which has a magnitude of -12.6 the brightest objects in the night sky are iridium flares. These are bright flashes lasting a few seconds caused by satellites which are orbiting earth. It can be predicted when they will be visible at ones geographical location, and at what time the sun will strike their reflective panels, which creates a bright flash, or flare. The heavens-above.com website is a great source for checking out when these flares will occur. You will see there’s a column with numbers denoting the brightness of the flares. Magnitudes can also be negative and in fact, the more negative they are, the more impressive they will be

The Observatory has established a relationship with the Sutherland community and hopes to make a difference in the schools there (as a start). The “Help A Girl” initiative aims to keep the girls in school and empower female learners by providing them with sanitary protection.

For a lot of girls from disadvantaged backgrounds reaching puberty means a decline in school attendance. Every month a shocking number of young women are missing school because they cannot afford sanitary products during their menstrual cycles. This leads to girls missing about 25 percent of school every year, and in some cases even dropping out completely. These girls resort to using old clothing, rags, paper, etc which can lead to infections.

If you would like to make a donation, we are collecting sanitary towels every month to be collected in Cape Town at the SAAO, and in Sutherland at the Observatory’s visitor center. The boxes will be sent to Sutherland High School and Roggeveld Primary School to be distributed between the students. We can all help to keep the girls motivated to dream about their future instead of feeling humiliated and embarrassed about menstruation. Any contribution will have a big impact in a girl’s future!

For more information please contact Elias Aydi: eaydi(at)saao.ac.za or Itumeleng Monageng: itu(at)saao.ac.za.

Copyright Marko Plavetić

Marko Plavetić is an amateur astrophotographer from Croatia, studying chemistry at the University of Zagreb. Above are some examples of the photography which he has done this year.

Image taken at the photo booth at the Sutherland visitor center.

Marissa Kotze is one woman who loves what she does.

Making the drastic shift from working in the insurance industry to studying astronomy and becoming an astronomer at the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), Marissa Kotze is a charismatic, humorous and very intelligent person. She grew up in the 1980s when space travel and the first moon landing were still new and exciting topics. “Mainstream media focused a lot on space travel and that also influenced my passion for astronomy”, she explains.

During the 1980s, there were fewer career options in South Africa, especially for women. “We don’t have that in South Africa, was the response I received when I said I wanted to do astronomy”, Kotze explained further.

With that disheartening answer, she began her career elsewhere. This did not, however, deter her from her dream completely, because she began studying for a BSc, with majors in Mathematics and Astronomy, part time through UNISA. When she was ready to resign from the insurance industry, she decided to apply at the University of Cape Town and the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) in 2007.

Visit the NASSP website at: http://www.star.ac.za/

“The whole process of study takes about seven to 10 years and today I am an astronomer. It is an uncomfortable job, it takes you away from your family and it has strange working hours because we work at night when we do observations” Kotze said. “But having said that, it’s amazing when you’re looking at a galaxy or a star, and chances are you are the only person on the planet looking at it, and that it so cool.”

Kotze specializes in studying x-ray transients and multi-wavelength observations on binary star systems emitting energy as material is transferred from a donor star to a compact object (white dwarf, neutron star or black hole).

Despite the shortage of women in the field of science and astronomy in South Africa, there are many opportunities for all women who have the skills and the passion for astronomy: “There is no bias towards men any more and it is no longer a question about whether or not women can do it, but about whether or not they want to become astronomers and scientists.”

For students interested in a writing internship focusing on astronomy and the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT).

The internship will be based at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town and dates are flexible, so please advise when you are available. Interviews with astronomers and engineers will be pre-arranged for the intern, and time will be allocated for articles to be written up. All work should be submitted by the end of the week.

The focus of articles should be on scientific results which SALT is producing, as well as the current generation of instruments on the telescope.  Articles of a high enough standard will be published on various media platforms. The “Public Contributions” section under the “News” tab on the SALT website has examples of articles written by previous interns.

Interested individuals should submit a letter of motivation to thea@salt.ac.za.

* Please note that this internship is available every year.

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere and among the largest in the world. It can detect the light from faint or distant objects in the Universe, a billion times too faint to be seen with the unaided eye – as faint as a candle flame would appear at the distance of the moon.