Astronomy 2024 Full Moon Hike

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Efforts are underway as we gear up for the International Astronomical Union’s General Assembly 2024 meeting. Our Ambassador and University of Cape Town (UCT) student, Venu Prayag, organized a Full Moon Hike which was held on Tuesday, 7 March 2023. Although the weather threatened to spoil this exciting event, we were, fortunately, able to proceed and enjoy a great evening outdoors, and experienced the scenic beauty and beautiful city lights and night sky from the top of one of Cape Town’s must-see destinations, Lion’s Head, which offers picturesque and breathtaking views of the city.

Everyone was amazing in helping and caring for one another and made this a fun and safe experience for all. It was inspiring to hear members of the public getting excited about spotting Venus on the horizon and their stories about stargazing in the Kruger National Park.

We are looking forward to more fun and educational activities in the future and hope a lot more of you can join us.

NB: Look out for a call for more ambassadors to be released soon.

#astronomy2024 #IAUGA2024 #GA2024Hike

Full Moon Hike

Webinar about the image of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way

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The African Astronomical Society is organising a public webinar on the recently released image of the black hole in the centre of our Galaxy by the Event Horizon Telescope. This epochal image was everywhere in the media and all of us would like to know more about it, and what it represents. This webinar on the black hole image is being organised by the African Astronomical Society and the Department of Science & Innovation, South Africa. The poster is attached to this email and we request you to forward this to your colleagues and friends. The pdf has the links embedded. 

What: “The First Image of the Black Hole at our Galactic Centre”
When: 3 June 2022, Friday; 1400 CAT (1200 UTC)
Zoom registration link:https://bit.ly/3wWPRuO
YouTube live: https://bit.ly/3NMoN6P

You will need to pre-register for a personal zoom link (see above). You can also see the webinar live on youtube (see link above) instead.
The astrophysicists who will speak at the webinar are

  • Michael Backes (UNAM, Namibia)
  • Roger Deane (Wits & UP, SA)
  • Iniyan Natarajan (Wits, SARAO, Rhodes, SA)
  • Jeandrew Brink (UFS, SA)

10 December: Come hear about the JWST, by JWST scientists

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JWST stands for James Webb Space Telescope. This is the new generation telescope that will overtake the Hubble Space Telescope after over 30 years of incredible astronomical images and science.

The JWST is due to launch on 22 December this year, and a lot is at stake. To learn more about this feat of science and technology, join us:

on 10 December 2021 at 13:00 – 15:00 GMT as we speak to:
Dr. Sarah Kendrew from the European Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute in the USA, and
Mr. Robel Geda from Princeton University, USA.

Registration to the Zoom webinar

If you don’t register, the talks will be live on YouTube as well at this link.

Solar Eclipse of 4 December 2021

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The moon will pass in front of the sun, covering it on 4 December 2021. It will be visible partially from the Southernmost parts of the continent. For more information and instructions on when and how to observe this partial solar eclipse safely, see the poster below.

Enjoy the event and if you would like to share photos of your observations, feel free to email us at IAUGA2024@afasociety.org. And remember, never look at the sun directly or through an instrument!

Large fireball illuminates Southern African skies

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On the evening of August 24, a bright object traveling fast in the upper atmosphere had thousands of people mesmerised. It was spotted by many in the Gauteng province of South Africa but was visible further North into Limpopo and Zimbabwe. At first we didn’t know what it was.

A usual shooting star is a rock the size of a grain of sand, so this looked a lot larger and it could be seen breaking up in the atmosphere. We’re lucky it happened after sunset, otherwise it would not be visible.

It could also have been something made by humans. Indeed, space is full of the debris of our interplanetary dreams. In 2001, the Russian Space Station Mir ended its faithful service to humanity in a stunning fireball above the Pacific Ocean.

Rockets reach space in stages. Until Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 landed back on Earth, rockets used to be discarded in space after one launch, and only capsules used to come back to Earth. One such capsule can be seen at the Cape Town Science Centre in South Africa. This is one of the reasons space travel was so expensive. OK it still is – but less so, and space has even become the next frontier in terms of tourism for the very wealthy.

Falcon 9 rockets landing back on Earth in 2018 after the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. Credit: cnet

This single-use approach to space travel also created a lot of large debris. This debris eventually falls back onto Earth. When large human-made objects orbit the planet they are often monitored, as they could present a hazard for satellites, aircraft, or us on the ground.

Thanks to this, astronomer and space geek Jonathan McDowell as well as twitter user @Skitt0608 were able to identify last night’s object as Chinese rocket Yuanzheng-1S, meant to demonstrate satellite internet provision capabilities.

So there you have it: it was a piece of rocket, re-entering the atmosphere and burning up due to friction with air molecules. As more of our space junk falls back to Earth we may see more of these human-made shooting stars.

If you want to work in space, here’s what to do: take mathematics and science at school, enroll in a physics degree, or an engineering degree, and dream big! Who knows where this could take you?

Celebrating Asteroid Day Across Africa

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Africa is celebrating Asteroid Day with a series of events starting on June 30th. Join us in the celebration from wherever you are! Thanks for our colleagues from AfAS who have compiled this list.

BENIN

Sirius Astro-Club, Benin will organise its first event at the University of Abomey-Calavi on 30 June
https://www.facebook.com/Sirius-Astro-Club-Bénin-104882745154428/

BOTSWANA

Astronomical Society of Botswana organised “Tracing Motopi Pan meteorite to its origin in asteroid belt”, a talk on 24 June, presentation available at https://astronomicalsocietyofbotswana.org/events/

COTE D’IVOIRE

Des conferences sont organisées sur ce thème, par l’Association Ivoirienne d’Astronomie, 10-12 am, 30 June, a LASMES ex LAPA-MF

EGYPT

A talk in Arabic organised by NRIAG, Egypt on 23rd June. You can listen to it at https://youtu.be/2vspetf9TF0

ETHIOPIA

A day long event at Akako Menubichu Primary School by Entoto Observatory on 30 June

GHANA

“This Day Rocks!”, a rocking online zoom session by the Ghana Planetarium team featuring talks, Q&A and a quiz. 5-6.30 pm, 3rd July, Register for zoom link at https://forms.gle/aXrpMFmugr7nQUiAA

Africa Scientific Renaissance Day celebration by MESTI and GAEC, 28-30 June, 10 am. Register at www.tinyurl.com/gaec-asrd 

Event on 7th July at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

KENYA

“Exploring space whilst keeping Earth safe”, talk at 2.00 pm on 2 July.
www.join.skype.com/GZnhmTHr2eXb 

MADAGASCAR

Haikintana – Astronomy from Madagascar is also organizing a week long celebration:https://web.facebook.com/photo?fbid=328001578892899&set=a.249855260040865

NIGERIA

‘Rocks from space: is the Earth im danger?’, a talk by Univ of Nigeria, Nsukka, 10 am WAT, 30 June. 
www.asteroidday.org/event/rocks-from-space-is-the-earth-in-danger-2 

SUDAN

STEMSudan is organising events for school students, with lectures and sky observations on 4-7 July
www.facebook.com/stemsudan 

TUNISIA

Many lectures on asteroids organised by Tunisian Association of Young Astronomers and IAU OAO, 9 am to 5 pm, 30 June
https://www.facebook.com/AstroTunisianTaya/
https://www.facebook.com/pg/OAOTUNISIA/posts/

For more information on Asteroid Day, see https://asteroidday.org.

Celebrate Africa Day on May 25th with your stories of the Moon

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25 May is celebrated as Africa Day every year. There will be a lunar eclipse on 26 May this year, which cannot be seen from Africa, but – the whole world share the same sky, right? And as Africans we have always had a special relationship with the Moon.

Therefore, we want to use the Moon to bring all of us Africans together. In collaboration with the African Astronomical Society, we invite you to share your stories and songs about the Moon. 

How to take part:

We invite you to create a 2-3 minute video on your phones of your stories and songs, either as a selfie or of someone you know telling it. Send them to us through

WhatsApp: +27 (0)82 403 0908
Email: outreach@afasociety.org 

We will celebrate Africa day by sharing your stories with the world. Please also send us your name, email address and location. 

Header photo: by GEORGE DESIPRIS from Pexels

© 2023 IAU General Assembly 2024 – Cape Town