Ska digital

SKA SA’s brightest young minds, and the future of radio astronomy, are meeting in Stellenbosch this

week. There was a moment when delegates had begun to wonder whether they would be holding a conference by candlelight, but fortunately within moments of everyone gathering in the auditorium, at Stias in Stellenbosch, the loadshedding ended and power was restored.

Post graduate bursary holders, their supervisors, representatives from SKA SA and invited speakers will be spending the next few days sharing the incredible advancements and discoveries that their work is generating.

Meeting of Minds

DIGITAL EDITION

By LYNNE SMIT

Over 200 students, supervisors, administrators and invited speakers gathered under the trees at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study for the traditional conference group photograph.

To kick off the event, Professor Justin Jonas shared milestones achieved and targets surpassed over the past year.

“We are building a telescope that is better than was promised,” he said. “We are seeing real results. This is not a prediction and not a promise: this is South Africa showing how to do things properly.”

The results achieved so far are so good that they are “showing that we can build the SKA with fewer dishes than was initially thought,” he said adding that when excellent engineering and excellent science come together a project like this can become more cost effective.

The Minister for Science and Technology of South Africa and the President of the Max-Planck-Society (MPG) have announced that the MPG and the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn will make available a total of €11 million (approximately R150 million) to build and install radio receivers on the South African MeerKAT radio telescope.The receivers will be built by the MPIfR and will operate in the S band of radio frequencies. They will be used primarily for research on pulsars, the rapid spinning neutron star which emit very regular radio pulses and so can be used as highly accurate clocks to test extreme physics. Two other sets of receivers, for the L band and UHF band of frequencies, are already under construction in South Africa.The President of the MPG, Martin Stratmann, said: “We consider MeerKAT to be an important undertaking as it is not only a preeminent astronomy project, but also a light-house project for science in Africa in general. The MPG is very pleased to enable close collaboration between its scientists and the South African community and looks forward to see MeerKAT’s first glimpse of the Universe with the receivers of the MPIfR”.Welcoming the strong and growing collaboration between South Africa and Germany, Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor said that the investment is an endorsement of the excellence of the MeerKAT and the South African team which designed and is building it. Minister Pandor added that “this significant investment by a leading global research organisation of prestigious repute, home to several Nobel Prize winners, was an important vote of confidence, in South African science in general and the MeerKAT specifically.” South Africa and Germany have a vibrant science and technology partnership, with radio astronomy fast becoming a blossoming flagship area of cooperation, evidence by huge interest in academic and industrial cooperation from both sides. Minister Pandor concluded, “MeerKAT is already acclaimed internationally as a world-class instrument. Thanks to our partnership with Max Planck, MeerKAT’s ability to perform transformational science for the benefit of global knowledge production will be considerably boosted. Awaiting the start of construction of the SKA, South Africa and our international partners such as Max Planck, continue to set the pace for global radio astronomy.”

Max-Planck-Society invests

11M€ into MeerKAT

There are ghosts in the machine, and Trienko Grobbler is the man

to call to sort them out.On the face of it, it seems that there

would be no place in the high tech world of the SKA SA offices for anything as fanciful as ghosts, but Trienko knows that if they are not eradicated they will cause very real problems.

The ghosts that he is concerned with are formed when scientists try to estimate the antenna gains with an incomplete sky model. When a radio telescope such as MEERKAT takes an image of an area of the universe, that data needs to be calibrated before the quality of the image can be improved. It is during calibration that errors or ‘artifacts’ are introduced into the image.

“These look like emissions from the universe,” he explains. “They are faint, but they look real.”

Researchers at SKA SA are working with signals that become more and more faint the closer they are to the Big Bang. At SKA SA, Trienko is working under Professor Oleg Smirnov and with Ridhima Nunhokee.

“We are looking at the Epoch of Reionisation (EOR). After the Big Bang we had a period of darkness and then the first galaxies and stars were formed and the lights went on. Those signals are very faint, so you can see how ghost emissions that look the same as real signals can be a problem.”

The ghost emissions are a recent discovery, and were first mentioned in a paper, Calibration artefacts in radio interferometry - I. Ghost sources in Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope data published in the Monthly Notices

introducing sKA sA’s ghostbuster

By LYNNE SMIT

of the Royal Astronomical Society in February this year which Trienko co-authored with Ger de Bruin, a researcher in the Netherlands. While studying some images from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, they realised that the emissions had a clear mathematical structure and thus could not be real.

“They’re all relational fractions. You never get that in real sources,” Trienko says. “And in the image where we first noticed them, they are all in a straight line.”

Trienko has worked out a model that will accurately predict the position of the ghosts.

“I don’t think we will ever get rid of the ghosts, unless we have a complete sky model and that is not possible. What we can do is to ensure that we recognise the ghosts for what they are and are not misled by their false signals.”

Like many of his fellow researchers at SKA SA, Trienko is adamant that the work he is doing should not be seen as something that is distant from the concerns of our society.

“We’re real people, trying to find out more about where we came from. It is a question that concerns us all,” he says.

“We need to eradicate naivety, and that is only going to happen with proper knowledge. A lack of knowledge makes people open to indoctrination, and that in turn can lead to unethical behaviour.

“The work we do at SKA SA is really important. It will change a lot of things in our society and in the way we see ourselves in the world as well as our place in the universe. It is an honour to be able to be part of this.”

Trienko Grobbler

When the results of the bid to host the Square Kilometre Array were

announced in 2012, South Africa’s Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor was over the moon.

“We have always said that we are ready to host the SKA, and the world has listened to us,” she said.

Pandor thanked her colleagues in government, South Africa’s SKA team, partners across Africa and the many participating scientists and students for their excellent work over the last nine years that helped to secure the lion’s share of the SKA for Africa.

The huge €1.5 billion international research project will see large antennae spread across Africa and Oceania. The radio telescope will be 50 times more sensitive, and will survey the sky 10,000 times faster, than any other radio telescope.

Pandor’s gratitude has not waned. South Africa is a torch bearer in providing scholarships and skills required in astronomy across Africa.

Expertise is needed to run the Square Kilometre Array stations that will be constructed across Africa once the project is fully operational in 2020.

Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia are partnering South Africa SKA in hosting remote stations. The African countries are at different levels of development. This is where South Africa features prominently.

For nine years South Africa has brought the community of scientists, radio astronomers and students to share latest research and development in the field.

The 4-8 December 2014 SKA Africa Postgraduate Bursary Conference revealed that a strong foundation has been laid towards training for astronomy in Africa, but there are countries still lagging behind.

Various representatives from African countries shared their views on the state of astronomy in their countries.

Professor Minoson Rakotomalala, head of astronomy at University of Antananarivo, Madagascar said two sites had been proposed for the SKA telescopes in the southern parts of his country, Ankaramena and Betroka, they were far from the Antananarivo university where physicists and astronomers are based.

He suggested plans to change the suggested locations as they were home to armed gangsters which makes infrastructure targets of vandalism.

“To put our telescopes over there is a waste of money, to send our scientists there is simply to kill them,” he said.

A new site, Tampoketsa, 200km away in the north of Antananarivo was being considered as experts would be able to make systematic visits regular at a cheaper cost,

AfricA needs sKills to reAch stArs

By MUNYARADZI MAKONI

Rakotomalala said.Astrophysics courses in Madagascar

are only offered by the University of Antananarivo. The master courses, in French, were recently approved by the government and courses were offered for students that hold BSc degree in Physics. Classes in astrophysics started in January. 12 students are signed in for the programme.

“Students are eager to know more about the new field. We now need Malagasy astronomers and graduate students in South Africa to help us out,” he says.

Rakotomalala said they have experience in the field, but they will continue to do their best to improve.

He said being behind as compared to the achievements of other countries would not stop them from setting their goals.

Madagascar has sent 11 students for training in South Africa through the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme at the University of Cape Town since 2007. There are now 4 students with PhDs in astronomy and cosmology, 2 graduated with doctorates in engineering.

Dr Radhakhrishna Somanah, associate physics professor at University of Mauritius said the remote station will be at the site for Mauritius Radio Telescope.

The University of Mauritius has taught astronomy in its BSc (Hons) Physics course for more than 20 years. Currently students can do a BSc Hons Physics with specialisation in astrophysics and a master Astrophysics with Radio astronomy and application is offered said Somanah.

Free education from primary to undergraduate level but there is none for postgraduates, he said.

“Our government gives 50 scholarships for undergraduate studies to African students each year with an annual intake around 15. We are trying to see how we can shift the undergraduate scholarships to postgraduate,” said Somanah.

Mauritius has 3 astronomers at the University of Mauritius, 5 PhDs outside Mauritius and 8 doing PhDs in astrophysics abroad, most of them in South Africa.

Somanah said his government was fully supportive of the SKA project, but there was need for more financial support, especially for initiating the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network in Mauritius.

“The AVN project is a 100% African project which is essential for ensuring that technicians to scientists in the African partner countries can acquire experience which are essential for the SKA project,” he said.

Copperbelt University in Zambia was

chosen to host the Southern African node of the International Astronomical the International Astronomical Union’s Office of Astronomy for Development in August this year. But the country has no astronomers to talk of.

“The closest Zambia comes to having astronomers are two students studying in South Africa,” Nchimunya Mwiinga, lecturer at University of Zambia said. “One is a PhD and another is a masters,” he added.

Mwiinga said only electrodynamics and astrophysics were being taught as foundation courses at his university. He said a lot of capacity development was still needed and outreach to attract other students.

“We need stories that generate awareness around astronomy in the country, not only for students but even policy makers to realise this field is worthy of funding,” he said.

He hoped more students would come to study in South Africa in future.

Mwiinga as more developments takes place on astronomy countries lagging behind seems to be forgotten. “We are at the different levels of human capital development as such our needs vary.” He said.

Dr Kgakgamatso Moloi from the University of Botswana said there is no astronomy programme in the country. “We are taking steps to start two courses in astrophysics,” he said. There are plans to buy a telescope for teaching and research and initially 5-6 students will be enrolled in the programme.

Moloi said said the government had shown enthusiasm towards astronomy by for now they were pinning their hopes on 12 undergraduate and masters students studying at University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to develop the programme when they came back home.

Geoffrey Okengo, a Kenyan astrophysicist at University of Nairobi in his final year for a PhD in South Africa said his country had progressed beyond buying equipment efforts were being concentrated on build computational facilities and be able to interpret the data. University of Nairobi in Kenya graduated its first astronomy graduates last year.

Bernard Duah Asabere, a PhD student at University of Johannesburg and research scientist at Ghana Atomic Energy Commission said, his country like most partner countries was in the process of building more astronomers. Ghana is currently involved to converting old satellite dishes into low-cost radio telescopes.

As African partners will feature actively in the SKA in the second phase when the telescope will extend to long baselines of 3 000 km or more, one issue remains, partners need to talk to each other more and give even more opportunities to those lagging behind.

The SKA project is having an impact across Africa as Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia are partnering South Africa SKA in hosting remote stations. Attending the conference were representatives from each of the countries, who enjoyed the opportunity to interact with their peers from South African universities.

It has been said that scientists speak to each other in complexities, while journalists and the general

public are hungry for information that will fascinate them without making them feel inadequate.

The ability to speak to the public is a vital skill today, especially as more and more scientists are bypassing the traditional route of sharing their information through science journalists, and are using social media to build communities of interest for themselves.

The astrophysicist who has claimed this space for himself is Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) who may only tweet twice a day, but has 2 714 691 followers who are eager to hear his every word. It is difficult to compare that to the impact factor of a journal like MNRAS, but if your aim is to spread the word about your findings as far as possible, then social media like Twitter are invaluable.

Social media is about much more than just communicating with the general public. More and more scientists are finding that Twitter in particular is an invaluable tool increase the impact of their research among their peers. Many are also using

spreAding the wordBy LYNNE SMIT

it to communicate with other scientists during the development of scientific publications.

One widely cited paper that examines this impact is The role of Twitter in the lifecycle of a scientific publication which can be accessed here: http://goo.gl/1BuQNB

As the abstract says “At the start of the ‘life cycle’ of a scientific publication, twitter provides a large virtual department of colleagues that can help to rapidly generate, share and refine new ideas. As ideas become manuscripts, twitter can be used as an informal arena for the pre-review of works in progress. Finally, tweeting published findings can communicate research to a broad audience of other researchers, decision makers, journalists and the general public that can amplify the scientific and social impact of publications.”

There certainly seems to be a gap in the market for SKA SA scientists to start communicating their work through social media. If you are inspired to get started, there is some great advice for scientists who are twitter virgins at http://goo.gl/vLi15q

The non-thermal emissions of galaxy clusters play a very

important role in their formation and their evolution, but we don’t know too much about these emissions right now.

One person who is hoping to change that is Shehzad Emritte who is working on his PhD at Wits.

“We are doing cosmology in a very interesting way,” he says. “We are trying to answer fundamental questions related to the nature of dark matter.”

Shehzad has always been interested in mathematics and physics, and had his first introduction to astrophysics when he was at the University of Mauritius.

“Anything that is related to mathematics and physics is what I like to do,” he explains. “When I was growing up near Port Louis in Mauritius, I know my father was hoping I would become a a medical doctor. He was happy for me to pursue my interest in mathematics and physics instead, but neither of us had any idea that a career like this was even a possibility.”

Shehzad is enjoying living in South Africa. “They deserve to have the SKA here,” he says. “The level of

Answering fundAMentAl questions About dArK MAtter

By LYNNE SMIT

research and the dynamic academic community make it a pleasure to be here and to be part of it all.”

Although the telescope will be situated in South Africa, Shehzad has no doubt that his is not the only young Mauritian life that it will be changing.

“It is bringing opportunities for all Africans who are interested in higher level studies in astrophysics. It is incredible to be able to conduct research at the cutting edge of science.

What do you say to people who can’t understand why we are investing in the study of stars when there are problems such as poverty on the ground.

“When you look at the amount of money we waste on war, the amount that is spent on astronomy is miniscule in comparison. Advancing the boundaries of human knowledge can never be a waste of money.”

Shehzad plans to do a two year post doc when he is finished his PhD.

“I’d like to keep on working on dark matter,” he says. “I enjoy the fact that research in this field involves an interrelationship

between observational and theoretical research. It means that I get to do both.”

Shehzad credits his supervisor, Sergio Colafrancesco, Wits Physics professor and one of the five SKA Chairs in South Africa, with opening his eyes to a different approach to astrophysics.

“His solid theoretical grounding in physics means that he is able to explore fundamental questions of physics,” he says.

Once MeerKAT and the SKA telescopes are up and running, Shehzad believes we will be very close to understanding the nature of dark matter.

“Of course, the other interesting factor is the nature of the primordial magnetic fields. They are another crucial ingredient in the formation of structures. But when those telescopes come on line, I am sure we are going to make a lot of major discoveries very quickly.

“The multiverse is not forbidden by any laws of physics, so I don’t think we will ever lack things to explore, and I will always have enough research material to write articles in good publications in order to advance my career.”

Shehzad Emritte

When the announcement was made on May 25, 2012, that

South Africa would be the site for the full dish and the dense aperture arrays of the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope it was a turning point for Sphesihle Makhathini.

“Of course I had heard about our bid to host SKA,” he says. “I was in my second year when I first heard of the SKA, but it seemed far removed from my undergraduate studies. But as the momentum built for the bid, my interest in it was raised and I realised that here was a great opportunity for me to play a role in building this great instrument.”

Sphesihle completed his BSc honours and MSc in physics at

heAd in the stArs, feet on the ground

By LYNNE SMIT

University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and is currently in the second year of his astronomy doctorate at Rhodes University.

Because of his knowledge of engineering and of science, he is in the unique position of being able to be a bridge between the engineers and the scientists.

“Given a set of science goals and constraints imposed by technology, finance and other factors, the design of radio telescopes can be optimised to increase science output,” he says.

“Scientists are dreamers – they want to do fantastic things, but we are limited by the capabilities of current technology. That

means that the engineers and the scientists are not always in sync, so it is useful to have people who can help to optimise the design of the telescope so that we can get closer to our science goals.”

Under SKA SA Research Chair, Professor Oleg Smirnov, Sphesihle and the team he works with are building software that helps to calibrate the images that the telescopes receive.

“When you to study a star in the sky from the earth, there are many things that will contaminate that measurement,” he explains. “We try to remove those contaminations using computer software. We try to come up with techniques that will recover that signal as well as possible.”

Sphesihle and his team have developed an online simulator for radio interferometer data; CEILING-KAT. The CEILING-KAT project aims to provide quality simulated data for testing and developing data reductions pipelines. He is developing CEILING-KAT along with Gijs Molenaar, a software specialist based at the University of Amsterdam who is also doing a PhD at Rhodes. Amongst other things, they are looking into using Docker (an open platform for developers and systems administrators to build, ship, and run distributed applications) for developing radio interferometer software packages.

“The data we will receive from MeerKAT and similar instruments will be very large and complex and we want to provide quality simulated data that can help the science community prepare for it” he says.

Sphesihle is one of many young Africans attracted to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) for a career in world-class science and he has a very down-to-earth reason for wanting to be involved in SKA SA and the MEERKAT projects.

“The SKA is a tool for us to learn how to innovate, to solve problems and to build our economy,” he says.

“Great economies are built by people who know stuff. Science and innovation can strengthen the economy in the long run. You only need to look at China and the US to see that innovators drive the economy, and you can see the fruits of that for all the people.”Sphesihle Makhathini

For the first two months South Africa felt like hell,” says Zara

Randriamanakoto. “I wanted to go back home.”

Zara got a scholarship to study astronomy in 2008. Those were the early days. English was not her first language, neither was it her second. At home in Madagascar, they speak French, and Malagasy.

“It was a struggle to learn to speak in English and hard enough to study new things,” she says.

Now it is unthinkable that the 29-year-old, with a disarming smile - originally from Antsirabe, a city known for hot springs in Madagascar - ever considered quitting.

“I was homesick,” she insists. But it eventually it came to pass. “I had a great mentor and the facilities and the network that were made available helped me to move on and I never looked back.”

Zara got her undergraduate degree majoring in physics at the University of Antananarivo Madagascar.

“Like other African countries, we have a shortage of energy in Madagascar, so I thought I would be useful to my country in that field. Astronomy is a field of research that was totally new for me,” she says.

It took the intervention of her lecturer to see a different future.

“Once my lecturer back home informed us that Madagascar will become actively involved with the SKA project and that this will require trained students in the field, I did not hesitate to embark on the new journey. It did feel a bit like jumping on the boat blindfolded!” she says.

Zara, eventually became one of the 10 students since 2008 to benefit from scholarships to study astronomy outside her country.

She did her Honours degree in Astrophysics and Space Science under the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme at University of Cape Town. She went on to do a masters and is in the final year for her doctorate at the same university.

Postgraduate astronomy studies have been fun, she says. She was awarded an International Astronomy Union (IAU) travel grant to present her work at the 277 IAU Symposium in 2011. She also received a scholarship from the Vatican

nAvigAting the lAnguAge of AstronoMy


Observatory in 2012 to attend the prestigious Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS).

“I hope to inspire young students, especially young women, with my life-changing experiences to have an interest in science,” she says.

In Madagascar, Zara is actively involved with astronomy outreach.

“It is always hard to convince some who believe in their own ministries, especially my country, why we should study astronomy… But the starting point could be asking them, why the sky is blue?” she says.

She stays in touch with the lecturers at University of Antananarivo to help them with the newly established astronomy coursework.

Zara has already published three papers in peer-reviewed journals - two of them as a first author.

“I was ecstatic when my first paper got accepted, it was definitely a huge relief, and I had achieved one of my academic goals. It also helped me to build more confidence: with perseverance everything is possible,” she says.

Zara has kind words for the South African SKA Scholarship Programme. She says the fruits of the programme are already being seen.

“There are more opportunities for the African students to stay in Africa and to attract highly-skilled international researchers,” she says.

She has a message to young people who want to go into astronomy.

“Believe in yourself, do not easily give up but also get a mentor.”

Zara Randriamanakoto

in seArch of Answers to the questions of the universe

What happens to the stars when the sun rises? What

force behind the scenes is driving the sequential process which sees the stars being “turned on” every night?

These were just some of the questions which Jabulani Maswanganye would ask as a little boy growing up in the small village of Giyani in rural Limpopo.

“From the very beginning, I was always fascinated by nature and how it operates,” Jabulani said in an interview.

“As a child I just couldn’t stop asking questions.

“For instance, when I looked at the sea, I wanted to know why the waves all retreat backwards … you don’t see one travelling across. Why?”

A top maths and science pupil at school, Jabulani was awarded a bursary to UCT to study Applied Mathematics and then an Honours in Astrophysics.

As fate would have it, Jabulani, as a PhD student at HARTRAO and Northwest University, is, today, probing all his childhood and other questions – and, in the process, learning that as you answer one question, another arises!

Jabulani, who spoke during

By SUE SEGAR

the session on Galactic and Transient Objects, addressed the topic:Discovery of New Periodic Methanol Masers and its Implications.

“We know very little about masers and little about massive star-forming regions. On top of that, we do not have much understanding of the relationship between masers and massive star-forming regions,” Jabulani said in an interview.

In his Phd, Jabulani is, in particular, focusing on what is unique about methanol masers.

“I am looking at the masers which are unique to massive star forming regions – because, whenever you see them, you automatically know you are in a massive star-forming region,” he said.

“We have been monitoring these masers over time and have seen behaviour – namely periodicity – that we didn’t think was possible. We did not expect that behaviour and have been trying to understand it.

“The question we have been looking at is what is the origin of the periodicity in the methanol masers we are looking at and what causes it?”

In his presentation, Jabulani said he has come up with a proposal to explain a group of new periodic sources which show irregular variations in massive star-forming regions.

“A star is normally embedded in an optical thick cloud which means that much of the radiation or light it has produced cannot escape.

“So, in many instances we don’t quite see the star which is being formed.

“If you look at masers which are close to the star, particularly these methanol masers, then it tells us something about the dynamics of what is happening in these massive star-forming regions.

“When we look at the maser it is more like understanding water by looking at the fish … it is an indirect way of understanding the massive star-forming regions by looking at these methanol masers. The changes would be due to the environment.

“We still don’t understand them very well … but we are observing regular changes in the intensity of the masers we are looking at.

“This means that some regular processes are taking place.”

Jabulani said these observations are of great interest to him in his work, “because we want to know what is causing this. Whatever is causing it is something we were not expecting.

“One would expect random processes to be happening with a great deal of energy … but the processes are far more synchronized than expected.

“We have found many instances of regular variability and intensity in stable systems, but we did not expect to see it in young star-forming regions,” Jabulani said.

Light curves which have appeared could provide more information about the source or reason of these regular variations.

“This is just a proposal at this stage and it needs to be tested.”

Jabulani intends carrying on as he is, in pursuit of more knowledge about the universe.

“The more I study the universe the more I realise I don’t know anything about it,” he joked.

“I would be a happy man if I resolve the origin of the periodicity in methanol.”

Jabulani Maswanganye

Some love astronomy for its mere distance from humanity, others

are won by the composure required to understand the formation of the universe. For some it’s the inability to find answers that keeps them hooked.

For Kim McAlpine, a third year PhD student at Rhodes University in Grahamstown it’s the thrill to search for the unknown that gives her a kick in life.

“It’s a fun journey into the unknown,” she says. “You can’t really tell what you are going to encounter.”

Kim was just beginning her research career when South Africa became involved in the bid to host the SKA and it was immediately clear that this was an incredibly exciting project which would provide her a unique opportunity to participate in cutting edge science.

Now she carries out a radio continuum survey - using the radio telescope to look for black holes and galaxies.

She is working on the calibration and analysis of data from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India (GMRT) to produce wide-field, high dynamic range radio images.

“I’m using these images to study the evolution of radio galaxies, says Kim. “The development of radio galaxies is a key science topic for the

exploring the extreMe universe


SKA.” Kim says the SKA, as the most

sensitive radio telescope in the world with a unique combination of sensitivity and long baselines, will allow the mapping of galaxies and the much smaller black holes that exist at the centre of the galaxy.

“The universe at earlier times was much more active than it is in our current epoch. Star-formation and black hole mass was much more extreme, but we don’t really understand why these processes have slowed down,” she says.

She says the SKA will allow astronomers to get a detailed picture of this more extreme universe for the first time and help to explain why the universe has changed so much in the short-term.

“While the details of my research are probably very far removed from everyday life, I believe that everyone can be excited about the SKA,” she explains.

“The SKA is one of the largest, most ambitious science and engineering projects in the world and winning the SKA bid is an enormous success for South Africa. Its analogous to winning the World Cup of Science, and it will stimulate an enormous amount of development in a wide range of topics including computing,

engineering and astronomy.” Every scientist keeps talking

about the sensitivity of the SKA what advantage will it bring?

“Sensitivity is key if we want to create detailed maps of faint signals from very distant objects, and our aim is to understand how star-formation and black holes change from very early times to now,” Kim says.

The SKA will allow us to study objects in the much more distant universe, when the universe was very much younger she adds.

What is known in the area of Kim’s research is that star-formation has been slowing down for the billion years and at the same time the rate at which black holes are growing has also been slowing down.

“We think that the key to understanding this change in behaviour is to consider that the black hole is able to influence how stars form within the galaxy and vice versa,” she says.

What is unknown are details of how this interaction between the black holes and galaxies actually works and we have only very tentative evidence of these interactions taking place, and only in the very nearby universe, Kim says.

“But, the SKA will help to give us a more detailed picture of these connections,” she says confidently.

Kim McAlpine

Astronomers were treated to a journey of the large structure

of the universe by Dr Danail Obreschkow, Research Associate Professor from International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at the University of Western Australia at the 9th SKA Africa Postgraduate Bursary Conference.

Danail delivered the third Steve Rawlings Memorial Lecture on 6 December.

“We have done mapping of the galaxies on the cosmic web, they are not randomly distributed, they maintain a specific pattern,” said Danail.

He said galaxies are distributed in a particular fashion and it has to do with the structure of the universe.

“Things are very different from what they looked like 40 million years ago but a certain structure has

Keep on reseArching!By MUNYARADZI MAKONI

been maintained from those days and we can learn about the universe today,” Danail said in an interview.

He said it was important to keep on researching about the universe because it was very likely that there are new laws of physics that can be uncovered.

“It was the study of the solar system that gravity was discovered, in of some our questions we keep seeking to understand why a star shines so bright for a long time,” he said.

“Sometimes it is good not to worry what your science will be used for but to just concentrate on understanding the science. Our discoveries will be used to answer questions we are not yet asking,” Danail added.

Danail believes studying the

universe is not all about science.“The study of the universe brings

people together. We are people from different nations gathered here. There is no difference in skin colour. We use the same telescopes and we talk about the evidence we get from the universe. We make studying the universe our goal and naturally we come together as humans,” he said.

The inaugural Steve Rawlings Memorial Lecture was held at the 7th SKA Africa Postgraduate Bursary Conference in Stellenbosch on 29 November in 2012.

Prof Rawlings, a former head of Oxford Astrophysics, passed away earlier in 2012 aged 50. He was and will be remembered as a great supervisor, scientist and friend who greatly supported South Africa’s SKA Project.

A few years ago, when a team of South African scientists and engineers went over to the US to see

“how they do things” at the VLA, the Americans were completely struck by the energy and enthusiasm of the young South Africans.

“They reminded us of the way we used to be,” said Dr Rick Perley of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the USA.

As the world’s biggest radio telescope in the world, the VLA hosts regular visitors from other countries who want advice on how a telescope of that magnitude works and what kind of support is necessary to support such a huge facility.

energy And enthusiAsMBy SUE SEGAR

“We have had numerous people come to us for advice – but the South Africans had a real effect on us.

“For us, the reminder was like being reborn. “I thought, ‘these South Africans are so young that they don’t know they can fail.’

“Young people need a vision. They need something to latch on to, something to believe in.

“The South African government is investing in SKA largely because it is something young people can engage with. Something that will inspire them. It is a great move. Young people need to be engaged.”

Dr Danail Obreschkow

• Bernard Duah Asabere, PhD student from University of Johannesburg:

“This is the third time I have been here and quite frankly I have gained a lot… I am in a school where there are few people in my field. To have the opportunity to interact with people in my field and ask basic questions is, for me, just wonderful.” • Sultan Hassan, PhD. student

from University of the Western Cape:

“To have SKA in Africa is going to create great opportunities- just having all these scientists here to talk about the science and to interact is going to be wonderful.At the moment the theory is more advanced than the observations but now having this SKA here is the big opportunity to catch up with the theory.” • Amifou Dothho, MSc student at

UCT:“It was curiosity and the dream of discovering something that was new and unknown to me that made me want to become an astronomer. I took a few classes to see how it would go and before long I was hooked. I just wanted to know more and more. I love it!”

VOX POPS • Mika Rafieferanijoa, MSc student at UWC

“Having SKA in South Africa is hugely significant for both this country and for Africa. It is a huge opportunity for African students which will pull African scientists together. It will also raise our scientists up to being on a par with other scientists in the UK, the US and all over the world.” • Emmanuel Oeran, MSc student

from UWC:“Astronomy presents immense potential for research. There is just so much to learn. I am particularly interested in extra-galactic astronomy. Studying galaxies is my absolute passion.”• Eli Grant, from the International

Astronomical Union’s Office of Astronomy for Development

“I am interested in the capacity development side of SKA – how it affects skills and science progress in SA and in Africa development. There is huge potential.”• Charles Copley, SKA:“I think the conference is a good venue for bringing people together from across South Africa. It also facilitates cross-institutional dialogue which is great. It is good for students to have an idea of what fellow students are doing. It gives focus to job searches

and continuing within SKA going forward. Generally, this has been a very good conference.”• Trienko Grobler, post-doctoral

student, Rhodes University:“The highlight of the conference, for me, was the opening lecture given by Justin Jonas, who explained the future of SKA. It gave me such confidence that we are on the right track to becoming a world-class institution right here in Africa.”9. Stefan Wijnholds, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.“I have been so impressed to learn about the history of SKA in South Africa and with the broad range of work being done for SKA. Just the fact that more than 200 people are attending this conference speaks volumes about the interest in SKA.”10. Professor Sergio Colafrancesco, from Wits University’s Physics department and one of five SKA chairs in SA:“A real highlight for me has been to see the development, both in quantity and quality of scientists with an interest in SKA. This is great – because one of SKA’s commitments is to create a vast pool of next-generation posts for researchers. SKA is such a big thing for SA and Africa and it is no surprise there is this huge interest in it.”

A team of judges had the unenviable task of choosing the best among a very high standard of presentations at the conference. The winners were: Riona Ramaj (PhD Astronomy) who got a Certificate of Excellence for an outstanding poster; Temwani-Joshua Phiri (Phd Engineering) who got a Certificate of Excellence for an outstanding poster; Emmanuel Ocran (MSc Astronomy) who got a Certificate of Excellence for an outstanding poster; Stanley Kuja (MSc Engineering) who got a Certificate of Excellence for an outstanding poster; Moses Mogotsi (Phd Astronomy) who got a Certificate of Recognition for an excellent presentation; Heather Prince (Msc Astronomy) who got a Certificate of Recognition for an excellent presentation; Kenda Knowles (Phd Astronomy) who got a Certificate of Excellence for an outstanding presentation; Brenda Namumba (MSc Astronomy) who got a Certificate of Excellence for an outstanding presentation; Lukas van Vuuren (Msc Engineering) who got a Certificate of Recognition for an excellent presentation; Jacki Gilmore(Phd Engineering) who got a Certificate of Recognition for an excellent presentation; Hardie Pienaar (Msc Engineering) who got a Certificate of Excellence for an outstanding presentation; and David Prinsloo (PhD Engineering) who got a Certificate of Excellence for an outstanding presentation.

probleM solving on the cutting edge

Exploring the nature of dark matter has been described as

painting a landscape you have never seen, in a dark room, without knowing where the paint is.

It is that unseen landscape that interests Geoff Beck.

“We are looking at models for dark matter – what we think it might be – and then try to determine whether or not the SKA would be able to detect anything. There are a lot of observations that lead us to believe that there is missing mass in the universe. There is more to the universe than just the luminous stuff that we can see. Dark matter is the simplest way of correcting our theories to cover this deficiency.”

Geoff describes himself as a theoretician rather than an astronomer. What keeps him fascinated is the challenge of new problems to solve. He also has a keen interest in the philosophy of science, and he describes quantum mechanics (the subject of his Masters’ study) as “one of the things I am pretty passionate about”.

By LYNNE SMIT

Most people that you talk to who are working in physics talk about how it has been a lifelong interest, but Geoff readily admits that it was not something that interested him in high school at all.

“I ended up in physics because I didn’t know what to do at university and I heard someone give a reasonably persuasive talk,” he explains. “So I thought, I’ll try that.”

Like many of the students at the postgraduate bursary conference, Geoff is adamant that the quest for knowledge is important for its own sake.

“We never really know what we will find. It is always essentially a blind game. There are unforeseen consequences to pure research work, and we never know how it is going to pay off.”

He cites the example of the exploration of the fundamental nature of particle physics that led to the development of the MRI.

Astronomers look into the past, but the techniques that they are

using are taking us into the future.“I’d like to think that the quest

for knowledge is enough, but for people who aren’t quite satisfied with that, we need to remember the unintended consequences. It seems ridiculous, given the dependence of the modern world on electricity, but when Faraday was doing the initial experiments on induction, he was asked why this work was valuable. It was of academic interest at that stage, but of course it is immensely valuable now.”

What is SKA and this kind of research doing for South Africa and the African continent?

“The priority that our government places on science and research is because you can either push the boundaries of fundamental research or you can eternally ride the coat tails of developed nations. You can never really get yourself to their position unless you are willing to put the same kind of effort into developing your intellectual capacity.

“I, for one, am glad that we have chosen to push those boundaries.”

Geoff Beck

reAding the colours of distAnt gAlAxies

We may not have completed the construction of the

Meerkat and SKA telescopes yet, but South African scientists are already involved in work that will ensure that they hit the ground running once the telescopes are on line.

One such scientist is Sam Legodi who has just put the finishing touches on his Master’s thesis. His work has been on the defuse radio emissions which occur around galaxy clusters.

“The emission can’t be attributed to individual galaxies, so I was curious to know what causes them,” he says. “I was interested in how the galaxies in those clusters evolve.”

Sam is now working on two papers with his supervisors before he starts his PhD in 2015. His thesis had two parts – the first was to determine what a galaxy cluster actually is, to define and characterise it. The second part looked at the science, the colours and the evolution.

For his Master’s, Sam used data which was available on online archives and which had been gathered by optical, x-ray, infrared and ultra violet telescopes. He used that data to look at the photometry of the galaxy clusters.

“You look at what dominates

By LYNNE SMIT

the light emissions from the galaxy clusters and from that you can infer how their stars are being formed and what stage the star is at in its life. Basically we look at the colours of the light – it is a multi-colour analysis.”

So, what do the colours tell us?“You get red and dead,” Sam

explains. “Those are galaxies with old, highly evolved stars where not much is happening. They are usually elliptical in shape. And then you have blue galaxies that have massive, young stars. They are often spiral, like our own galaxy.”

Our own galaxy is “very much alive - it is blue - but our sun is a very old star. That’s good for us, or else we would be fried!”

Sam’s interest in galaxies far, far away was first sparked by a book he got out of his school library in Polokwane when he was just 12.

“It was a fantastical book on what people thought the life on Mars could look like. I was completely fascinated by it,” he says. “That developed into a passion for astronomy. Some of my teachers thought I was crazy, but I decided I was too smart for engineering and the careers that made sense. Like being a doctor: I could explain that to my grandmother. But astronomy?

That was something different and I knew that was all that I wanted to do.”

Sam’s interest in finding life in the universe has not died. He did an essay in his honours year on the topic, and it is something that he would like to explore more in the future.

“We need to know what kind of universe we are living in,” he says. “Research on galaxies that most people will never see is still relevant to us. It is about the advancement of human kind.”

“It may seem far away, but the research we are doing is transforming our country into a knowledge-based economy and that will change the future for us all.”

Sam Legodi

I t is fascinating to me to think that I am studying sources

that are so far away … and yet we are learning so much about them by studying the radiation they emit, says Alida Odendaal, PhD student at the University of the Free State.

“You start with just a raw image from a telescope and end up learning about the fascinating high energy processes that are taking place in that source. What I love about it is that there is always something new. And as you go on, you usually create more questions than you answer.”

Alida believes the study of Astronomy can grip anybody’s imagination.What grips her own imagination is her observations of X-ray and optical emission from supersoft X-ray binaries.

Alida, whose address was titled Multiwavelength properties of a sample of Magellanic Cloud and Galactic Supersoft X- ray binaries, spoke during the session entitledGalactic and Transient Objects II.

Explaining the concept of multi wavelength, she said: “If you look at the night sky, you see optical light from the stars, but in actual fact, the stars are emitting

hydrogen takes place on the white dwarf surface.

“This is something you usually see in the core of a normal star like our sun, but, in this case, you have nuclear burning taking place on the surface of the white dwarf.

“The dense white dwarf is not burning nuclear fuel in its core, but is now rekindled by the nuclear burning of accreted hydrogen taking place on its surface.”

Elaborating, Alida said: “I have looked at variability from a few of these sources and, in one of them, I found an X-ray pulsation of 67 seconds.

“The cause of this can be either because the white dwarf is rotating very quickly or because the white dwarf is pulsating. In either case, we are observing periodic changes in the X-ray emitting region.

“We also observed X-ray pulsations at longer periods of 10 minutes up to an hour. These may also indicate pulsations of the white dwarf and the surrounding nuclear burning layers.”

Speaking about the significance of her study, Alida said: “This teaches us something about this class of sources because if the white dwarf has a short spin period, for example, it means that something has spun it up, a bit like a top being thrown and being spun by the rope.

“The mass transfer of the material onto the white dwarf can make it spin faster and faster through the years ....

“That is one possibility. If we are rather observing non-radial pulsations in the white dwarf, it can provide us with information about the physical properties of material on the white dwarf – including the dynamics of the plasma and how the white dwarf reacts to certain instabilities.”

“And that’s just what I have found in the X-rays. I have obtained some very interesting results in the optical waveband too!”

Alida said that, during her work, she has made extensive use of optical data from SALT, and also from the 1.9-m Radcliffe telescope at Sutherland.

On plans for the future, Alida, who loves her research, would also love to do some teaching and lecturing.

“But at the moment, my focus is on finishing my Phd.

super soft x-rAys And white dwArfsBy SUE SEGAR

electromagnetic radiation in other wavebands as well.

“The stars also emit other types of rays, such as X-rays, gamma rays, radio waves, that are similar to visible light but which are at wavelengths that we cannot see. So it is radiation that we cannot see.

“One specific class of very interesting multi-wavelength sources are the Supersoft X-ray binaries I am studying. A binary system refers to two stars in the same system orbiting their common centre of mass. The Supersoft X-rays refer to X-rays that are quite soft, meaning they have a low energy, but are still X-ray.

“Part of my work is to study that specific band - the lower range of the X-ray band.”

According to Alida, the reason we see Supersoft X-rays from these sources is because of the existence of a white dwarf.

“One of the stars is a white dwarf, which is the burned-out core remaining when a star like the sun comes to the end of its lifetime. Material is transferred from the other star to the white dwarf and nuclear burning of

Alida Odendaal

exAMining high energy jets

On two occasions Arvind Ramessur won the Mr

University title for body building while he was a student at University of Mauritius. Now he is vying for another title, probably Mr Universe, by building the bodywork of reliable models to determine the energy of astrophysical jets.

Arvind studied physics at University of Mauritius. Like so many of the astronomers at the post graduate bursary conference, his passion was not initially set on the field. As a young man, the 26-year-old had his eyes set on being a pilot, but poor eyesight ruled him out.

Pondering on what to do next, occasional stargazing excursions during his university days triggered another interest. Maybe he could study astronomy. Yes, he would become an astronomer.

Arvind is an MSc Astronomy student at University of South Africa (UNISA). He is studying the law of physics in extreme environments that cannot be simulated on earth. He is being guided through his research by Professor Lerothodi Leeuw and Dr Michael Bietenholz.

He is using a technique known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry


(VLBI), which uses a number of radio telescopes, usually stationed in different continents, to study the same object. The research aims to create models that analyse the energy that surrounds galaxies.

The data from the different antennas are combined, creating a far higher resolution than any single instrument could achieve.

Arvind is specifically using the 26m VLBI dish at Hartbeest-hoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in Gauteng, South Africa.

HartRAO was the continent’s only radio telescope until the construction of South Africa’s prototypes for its Square Kilometre Array (SKA) bid belongs to the National Research Foundation.

Arvind hopes to model the behaviour of jets of high energy particles that are blasted out of black holes, including the ones in our own Milky Way galaxy. He says this research will be more important when the South Africa’s 64-dish MeerKAT and the giant SKA radio telescopes are built. Gathered data will be analysed to understand evolution of galaxies, and how the

laws of physics work in extreme environment.

The complexity of the work which Arvind is studying has had impact on career choice for his family member.

“My young sister in Mauritius currently studying physics is saying she wants to study astronomy when she finishes her physics studies. She finds this kind of work fascinating.”

But, what really is exciting about this career? Arvind quips, “What’s really cool is every time you do some research you discover new stuff.”

Arvind Ramessur

What is the link between the popular breakfast cereal

Pronutro and the study of x-ray binary stars? For Tana Joseph, SKA SA post doctoral research fellow, the link is clear.

“One day, when I was still very young, I was watching my mother decanting a plastic bag of Pronutro into a Tupperware and I noticed that some of the Pronutro flakes were sticking against the plastic instead of pouring out. I was fascinated and asked my mother what was going on.”

Luckily both Tana’s parents are high school science teachers, and her mother was able to explain the concept of static electricity to her young daughter and that was the beginning of a lifelong interest in science.

Then, when she was 10 years old, the Hubble telescope was launched and the Cape Times began to print some of the images on the front page of the newspaper.

“I still have the scrapbook where I kept them,” she says. “From that time I knew that this was the science that I wanted to do.”

The seed that was planted by the Hubble outreach programme has germinated and today Tana uses her considerable skills and talents in the study of x-ray binary stars.

This is when there are two stars that are close together. One is dead - a neutron or a black hole – and we see a mass transfer as the gravity from the dead star sucks material from its binary partner.

“The material from the donor star swirls towards the dead star like water going down a plughole, and as it moves the friction causes the gases to heat up to 10 million deg C. This emits high energy x-rays and the properties of these x-rays give us a lot of valuable information.

The size of the stars can vary from a star as tiny as our earth which has a mass as great as our sun’s. Depending on the orbits of the stars and the distance they are apart, the x-ray data will change.

Tana is accustomed to people asking her about the relevance of her research.

“I know that our work is being funded by tax payer money and that this kind of blue sky science doesn’t always seem applicable,” she says.

She has two clear answers. The first is that the thirst for knowledge

froM breAKfAst cereAl to binAry stArs

By LYNNE SMIT

is fundamental to what makes us human. The second is that you never know what you are going to discover with blue sky science.

“Not many people realise that without astronomy there’s be no cellphone selfies. The charge-coupled device, or CCD, which is used in most digital cameras was adopted and developed by astronomers . People may not know that the software used to do get the beautiful images we see from telescopes like Hubble has revolutionised medical imaging as well. In both cases there are large data sets with lots of detail.”

Sometimes blue sky science invents things that we didn’t know we needed. Tana’s favourite example is the World Wide Web which grew out of Tim Berners Lee’s need to

share data with colleagues at CERN.Tana readily admits that in the

community where she grew up, astronomy was seen as something that was “not for us, not for our people”.

“That attitude changed as SALT was built. People were no longer telling me that I couldn’t do that. I saw an excitement and an acceptance as a career in astronomy became an attainable goal. That is the revolutionary power of SKA. Astromomy is launcing us into becoming a knowledge-based economy.

“SKA is making us a world leader in astro physics. People are experiencing a mindshift as they stop seeing Africa as impoverished, to seeing us as world leaders. That is an incredible positive influence on our nation.”

Tana Joseph

Astronomers were treated to a journey through the large structure of the universe by Dr Danail

Obreschkow, Research Associate Professor from International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at the University of Western Australia at the 9th SKA Africa Postgraduate Bursary Conference.

Danail delivered the third Steve Rawlings Memorial Lecture on 6 December.

“We have done mapping of the galaxies on the cosmic web. They are not randomly distributed, they maintain a specific pattern,” said Danail.

He said galaxies are distributed in a particular fashion and it has to do with the structure of the universe.

“Things are very different from what they looked like 40 million years ago but a certain structure has been maintained from those days and we can learn about the universe today,” Danail said in an interview.

He said it was important to keep on researching about the universe because it was very likely that there are new laws of physics that can be uncovered.

“It was the study of the solar system that gravity was discovered, in of some our questions we keep seeking to understand why a star shines so bright for a

study of universe brings people together


long time,” he said.“Sometimes it is good not to worry what your science

will be used for but, understand the science. In many ways these will be used to answer questions we don’t know what they would be,” Danail added.

Obreschkow Danail believes studying the universe is not all about science.

“The study of the universe brings people together. We are people from different nations gathered here. There is no difference in skin colour. We use the same telescopes and we talk about the evidence we get from the universe. We make studying the universe our goal and naturally we come together as humans,” he said.

The inaugural Steve Rawlings Memorial Lecture was held at the 7th SKA Africa Postgraduate Bursary Conference in Stellenbosch on 29 November in 2012.

Steve rawlings, a former head of Oxford Astrophysics, passed away earlier in 2012 aged 50. He was and will be remembered as a great supervisor, scientist and friend who greatly supported South Africa’s SKA Project.

A group of conference delegates had the opportunity to attend a workshop with community radio journalists before the conference this week. Hosted by veteran radio journalists Nancy Richards, Kim Cloete and Kim Richards, the workshop was an opportunity for the scientists and the media to learn how to speak the same language. As one of the community radio journalists

commented “I am not afraid of scientists any more and now I know that the work of SKA SA is really fascinating. I am going to make sure we talk more about science on my station.”

Asha Tailor, an astrophysics PhD student at the University of the

Witwatersrand has an interest in halos which would equal that of the best Renaissance painters, but the celestial halos she studies are far beyond the imagination of even the most accomplished artist.

Asha is interested in understanding how halos are formed around galaxy clusters.

“There are many theories about the origin of radio halos but we think that the radio halo around a cluster of galaxies is formed by the combined effect of the halos of each galaxy within a cluster. That is to say that by understanding the diffusion of particles from a single galaxy in a cluster, we may be able to understand the radio halo that is formed around a cluster,” she explains.

“There are a lot of theories about where they come from but they are not very solid. We think that the halos are formed by the diffusion of single galaxies. I am trying to model what the radio halo would be around a single galaxy and then try and see what the superimposed halo would look like,” she explains.

There are many models out there attempting to understand this diffusion and fit it to the observational data to see if it really can explain this phenomenon. Existing models are either simple

Modelling the hAlos Around gAlAxy clusters

By LYNNE SMIT

physical models or complex numeric engines. She is building a model that is simple enough to be fitted and explained physically but also powerful enough to handle the nontrivial source distributions and effects. This provides a middle ground and hopefully will lead to a more acute understanding of the phenomenon.

The data for the research comes from papers published on observations from the VLA and LOFAR telescopes.

“I looked at how this observational and recorded data fitted with my models, and was pleased to find a very good correlation. I also overlaid the radio halo that I generated from my model onto the radio emissions from one of the papers, and the results were excellent.”

Asha moved to South Africa with her family when she was 12 years old. Her interest in astronomy was piqued by a series of lectures during her 1st year applied maths course.

“Then I didn’t do any more astronomy until my masters,” she says, “other than a literature review in a cosmology related project in my Honours.”

She moved to the physics department from the applied mathematics department at Wits to do her PhD in Astrophysics.

“My mathematics background is proving very useful as my project requires me to build a very general model that can be used to fit any type of source. In building this model I am using differential equations and numerical methods extensively.”

Asha is passionate about the importance of astronomy research.

“There is a lot that we don’t understand. We need to remember that we are living on earth: a planet that is part of this whole big system called the Universe. We need to be able to understand where we are and where we come from.”

“As people, as we live in our homes, we like to know where everything is and where it all belongs. It is just the same for our universe. The earth is like a room in the house. We need to know what is in our room, but we also need to see the bigger picture of where we belong.”

Asha says the SKA is the most exciting thing happening in South Africa right now.

“It is such a huge project. There is interest from everywhere in the world. We should encourage more people to study astronomy so that they can also be part of the next generation of astrophysicists. We need more people from Africa to be part of this. It is here, it is in our home, and it is really exciting.”

Asha Tailor

The desire to solve problems has not left Geoffrey Okeng’o

since he was a young boy going to primary school.

“I was almost always the kid that wanted to solve any problems regardless of whether I could be wrong or right,” he says.

“I can say that my interest in studying aspects of science touching on questions about the functioning of nature such as the origin and motion of planets, behaviour of gravity and formation of the universe, started in early primary school when I developed a passion for tackling challenging problems,” he explains.

Geoffrey went on to study all sciences; physics, chemistry and biology in high school.

He later choose to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Kenya’s University of Nairobi against his father’s wish for him to pursue a degree in education and work closer to home.

When he completed his 4-year

His thesis - supervised by Professor Roy Maartens, the SKA/National Research Foundation Research chair in Cosmology at UWC - investigated how an exchange of energy between dark energy and dark matter (the two dominant components that make up about 95% of our universe) could affect how galaxies form.

The research is meant to devise theoretical and computational tools that will be useful in the proper usage of the huge amounts of data expected from next generation large radio telescopes such as MeerKAT and the SKA, he says.

Since 2010 Geoffrey has been teaching theoretical physics and astrophysics undergraduate courses at the University of Nairobi-Kenya.

He is also involved in various outreach initiatives aimed at promoting research and enrollment in astronomy and astrophysics in Kenya.

“I’m a passionate scientific blogger with a strong interest in scientific communication and teaching,” he says.

Recently, Geoffrey won a three-month outstanding Fellowship at the Inter- University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in India in collaboration with the International Astronomical Union (IAU) office of Astronomy for Development.

He resumed his teaching duties at University of Nairobi last month.

“I aim to be among the upcoming African scientists doing big science in Africa, participating in training the next generation of African astronomers,” he says.

With colleagues at the department of physics, University of Nairobi they, intend to review the astronomy and astrophysics curriculum to further develop astronomy in Kenya.

For young astronomers who are already in the field or intending to join Okeng’o has a kind word.

“If you get excited about the universe, or if you want an intellectually stimulating and enjoyable career then astronomy is for you,” he says.

While the shortage of research for funding in other fields is the biggest hue cry for researchers Okeng’o says it’s not the case for astronomy.

“There exists substantial funding opportunities for Africans for the SKA project and many Africa-Europe-US initiatives.”

investigAting the ‘dArK’ MAtterBy MUNYARADZI MAKONI

degree with a major in theoretical physics and astrophysics in 2007, he won the National Astrophysics and Space Science (NASSP) scholarship to pursue an Honours degree in Astrophysics and Space Science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 2008.

“I chose to study outside my country partly because we did not have any postgraduate astrophysics program in Kenya at the time, but also because it offered me an opportunity to work with renowned South African astronomers,” he says.

In 2009, he won the Square Kilometre Array Msc scholarship, completing with cum Laude in 2010.

He returned to UWC in April 2012 to complete a PhD in cosmology under an SKA Africa PhD Fellowship, after a year-long teaching stint at the University of Nairobi. This is his final year.

Geoffrey Okeng’o

When Professor Justin Jonas, associate director for science

and engineering of South Africa’s SKA programme gave a talk at University of Cape Town in 2004, it showed Roger Deane the new horizons that would be opened by the SKA.

“I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and so could pursue training in radio astronomy,” he says.

Roger was studying electric engineering at UCT when he realised that he could follow his passion, astronom,y by undertaking some of the undergraduate astrophysics courses.

He studied for an M.Sc in Astrophysics and Space Science at the same university. Fortune knocked on his door and he completed his doctorate in astrophysics at University of Oxford. He was a student of Professor Steve Rawlings, a great advocate for the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project who died tragically in 2012.

After completing his PhD in early 2012, Roger came back as a post-doctoral fellow at UCT. This is where the biggest discovery of his career so far was made, in June 2014. He led a team of international astronomers in the discovery of three closely orbiting supermassive black holes in a galaxy more than 4 billion light years away.

sMAll towns, huge discoveries


By any standards this was a huge discovery because this was the closest cluster of three black holes known to date. The discovery, published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, suggests that these closely packed supermassive black holes are far more common than previously thought.

The researchers used a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to discover the inner two black holes of the triple system. The technique combines the signals from large radio antennas separated by up to 10 000 kilometres to see detail 50 times finer than that possible with the Hubble Space Telescope.

For a young man who grew up in the small town of Welkom in the Free State, hogging international limelight was no small feat.

“It was so exciting to know this was just scratching the surface of a long list of discoveries that will be made possible with the SKA,” he says.

Roger says that the South African government investment in astronomy is paying off.

“There has never been a better time to take up radio astronomy in South Africa, we are very fortune to have strong support from the top levels of government,” Roger says.

Funding what will be the most sensitive radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, but also in the significant Human Capital Development programme is no coincidence he says.

“I may not have become a professional astronomer without the support of these initiatives. The ability of SKA-funded students and researchers to publish in top international journals suggests that the Human Capital Development programme is working very well. We don’t want to just host major radio astronomy observatories, we want to play leading roles in the fantastic science that these facilities enable.”

Four South African institutions, the Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape and Rhodes University and SKA South Africa were represented by the research team.

Roger closes a chapter on his first doctoral fellowship with this success. Next year he moves to the small town of Grahamstown. He starts his second post-doctoral fellowship at Rhodes University to search for more closely orbiting black hole systems.

“I grew up in a small town and did my PhD in a university town, so am very much looking forward to moving to the Rhodes group,” he says.

“Who knows, I might be set to make my next big discovery there,” Roger says.

Roger Deane

Y ou cannot s i t on a te lescope and say, ‘ I am happy

with what I d id. ’ You have to have a p lan for the constant improvement of that te lescope. Sc ience i s cont inual ly changing. Nothing i s s tat ic in th is bus iness.”

This was the powerful message put forward by Dr Rick Perley of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the USA during the session entitled New Instruments, Technologies and Techniques.

In his presentation, The Jansky Very Large Array – Current and Future Capabil it ies, Richard updated the audience on where the VLA is now, what its capabil it ies are and what they are doing to improve their telescope. Rick also compared VLA with what Meerkat wil l do.

VLA remains the “biggest and beefiest” radio telescope in the world, Rick said.

“This means we have learnt a great deal about how these things work and how to use them.

“We have had many people come to us to learn how a telescope l ike that works, what kind of support is necessary to support a large facil ity l ike this. We have been able to advise on how to make the telescopes more efficient and less difficult - and on how we solved our problems, so that they don’t make the same mistakes we did.”

Rick gave delegates a brief history of the telescope from its completion in 1980 and how it was improved incrementally from then to 2000 and, again had a major upgrade between 2000 and 2012. He also spoke about new developments taking place currently towards updating and improving the telescope.

“The VLA remains the gold standard.

Meerkat is going to be a faster telescope, which is exactly what it was designed to be.

Our facil ity was built to make maps, not to scan the sky quickly or to do surveys, even though it is good at surveys. Meerkat wil l do surveys better. Meerkat not designed to resolve objects the way ours can. We have to make decisions on what we are going to do better.

nothing is stAtic At the biggest, beefiest telescope

By SUE SEGAR

“Interferometers are very f lex ib le instruments and can be used for mult ip le purposes. They are a lso very amenable to upgrades. Sc ience keeps changing i ts goa ls so because of th is f lex ib i l i ty, interferometers are wel l su i ted to t racking these changing goa ls of sc ience.”

Whi le VLA has been a wor ld leader, th is does not mean i t must rest on i ts laure ls .

“New quest ions and myster ies wi l l keep on ar is ing. Your fac i l i ty has to match the changing quest ions and to implement the changing technology – or you d ie,” Rick warned.

“Even a fac i l i ty l ike the Very Large Array cannot rest and be

sat is f ied with i ts current leve l of performance. You have to move forward or somebody e lse wi l l pass you. I t i s l ike a race. I f you s low down, you wi l l soon f ind out you are los ing.”

Rick added that the team at VLA have learnt many th ings about how te lescopes, which are “highly complex machines” work.

“The essence of interferometery i s gett ing the synchronisat ion r ight. When you have a co l lect ion of te lescopes working together, t iming i s cruc ia l . A lmost a l l o f the t roubles we have are to do with synchronisat ion. There are lots of p laces where mistakes can be made. We at VLA are in a pos i t ion to pass on the lessons we have learnt.”

Dr Rick Perley

W hen you do a survey of the sky, you see quite a lot of

junk, some which is imposed by the telescope and some which comes from noise and static in the sky.

“But you also see objects popping out from between all that noise and static. The longer you look at a particular part of the sky, the more objects you see. You look further and further and it becomes fainter and fainter.

“What I am doing is working on techniques to push into the “junk”. It is a bit like looking down from above and seeing trees – but trying to look at the grass beneath. It is very hard to do, because these things are in the way.”

For Dr Jonathan Zwart, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of the Western Cape, it’s a “long slog” to find the optimum technique to “wring out as much information as we can” from data.

“Telescopes are expensive to build and we want to get as much science as we can from them,” he said in an interview.

Jonathan and his team are tasked with developing and using these techniques to “push the data to the max”.

“At present we are trying to give a new lease on life to existing data in our work aimed at characterizing populations of very faint galaxies and measuring star formation rates,” he said.

Jonathan spoke during the session entitled Machine Learning,

new techniques, we are now able to revisit data and pull out more from it. We are refining our predictions for Meerkat and developing techniques we can apply to the Meerkat data. Once we have applied them to the Meerkat data, we will be able to make predictions for SKA. It is a great stepping stone for us.”

Jonathan, who grew up in the UK – but whose father was born and raised in Cape Town – loves life in the Cape. “It feels like home, in terms of astronomy, and that has a great deal to do with SKA.

“There are so many institutes related to astronomy – UWC, UCT, AIMS, SAAO and SKA itself. There is so much going on here. What I really value is the interactions that take place between the different disciplines in astronomy. Also, there is a real feeling of gearing up for SKA. Everyone wants to be in this hotspot. Winning SKA is great for SA. It puts us on a par with the rest of the world.”

As a half-marathon runner and keen wine-taster, he also finds Cape Town the perfect place to be when he is relaxing.

On future goals, Jonathan says: “I would like to make a significant contribution to the efforts on Meerkat and SKA.”

looKing beyond the junK

By SUE SEGAR

Beyesian Inference, Source in a presentation called Astronomy Below the Survey Threshold.

“People are very interested in this field as it is a great way to get more out of the data you have already got. People want to know how to do more science with existing data,” he said.

Jonathan said he believes strongly that the “statistically rigorous” Beyesian framework is the best way of doing science. “The premise is that you have some initial beliefs based on what you know … and then you do an experiment and learn something from that and then do the next experiment. You are constantly updating. We do that in real life and we should be doing that in science too.

“It is completely intuitive, natural and powerful. My colleagues are probably sick of me ramming this down their throats … but I will keep banging this drum!””

In his work, the next focus will be on Meerkat.

“We are using data that is ten years old and giving it a new lease on life. The scientists working on it at the time, took the data and then stopped. Using Dr Jonathan Zwart

sA bAcKing for AstronoMy AMbitions pAys off

South Africa is developing its astronomy strength thorough

allocation of huge science budget for the field, setting up research chairs and establishing partnerships with other African countries.

The cocktail of measures has created the conditions for the successful host hosting of the Kat 7 - a radio telescope consisting of seven antennas, the MeerKAT - forerunner of the SKA, the world’s largest radio telescope and the construction of the SKA which will be done in two phases.

In its 2013/14 budget the government allocated R1.1 billion (US$120 million) to the SKA radio telescope in February.

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan also announced Value Added Tax (VAT) relief during his budget speech in the same month. The relief was meant to make it cheaper to purchase SKA equipment and components.

The country anticipates to spend more than R200 million (US$26m) on astronomy training by 2016. The funding would pay for the training of 10 postdocs, 30 PhDs, 30 MScs, 40 undergraduates and 24 national diplomas by the end of the five-year period.

The government has been sponsoring bursaries from undergraduate to PhD level, since 2005. These bursaries have not only gone to South Africans but Africans from outside South Africa.


A total of 154 research chairs were created under the South African Research Chairs Initiative in 2012, 10 of these are SKA-related.

In preparation to build the SKA, government is fully funding and operating the MeerKAT—a 64-dish radio telescope.

The first dish of the MeerKAT radio telescope was launched on 27 March this year at the site about 90km from Carnavon in the desolate Northern Cape Province.

The MeerKAT organisers say that four dishes will be operational at the site by the end of the year. All dishes are expected to be finished by 2016.

South Africa won the bid to co-host the SKA in Australia in 2012 and the counting of astronomy related benefits is already underway.

Seven South African companies and two South African universities are providing some of the 350 scientists and engineers selected to join in the final push for designing the world’s largest radio telescope. SKA SA has committed 24 full-time engineers and scientists to the design effort.

The KAT 7 has created 618 jobs, 50 of which went to women, 335 to men and 232 to youth valued at R8.9million. The KAT 7 has generated local business worth R7.8million.

The MeerKAT has already created

269 jobs worth R16.5 million: 25 for women, 244 for men as well as 191 jobs for youth. The injection into local business is estimated at R39.9milllion.

The location of MeerKAT has led to the upgrading of local amenities. The Carnarvon High School got R1million from the Department of Education to upgrade the school hostel. The Carnarvon Hospital is applying for alternative funding for renovation.

Roads that provide access to the site were upgraded in 2008 from gravel road to a high spec gravel road, and SKA SA will improve the road in 2015 to withstand usage of huge vehicular volumes.

A research centre that will collect and analyse data from the SKA, will be opened in South Africa in December. The Inter-university Centre for Data Intensive Astrophysics is part of a partnership between the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape.

Nine African countries partnering in the SKA have proposed a fund to train scientists and research radio astronomy on the continent.

Science ministries in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia proposed the fund at a steering committee meeting in Kenya on 3 and 4 November. The countries would contribute US$6 million in total to the fund every year.

Square Kilometre Array

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