NRF|SAAO Cape Town Open Night

Join us for Open Nights at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town, held on the second and fourth Saturday of every month.

Each evening begins with an engaging presentation on astronomy or a related field of science, followed by a guided tour of the Observatory’s rich history—including our library, museum, and the historic 120-year-old McClean Telescope.

Weather permitting, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy stargazing through the McClean and additional smaller telescopes.

• • Gates open at 7:30 PM.
  • Free entry for children aged 6 and under.

Please email cptbookings@saao.ac.za or call +27 21 447 0025 if you have any queries regarding bookings.

When you gaze at the night sky, the stars reveal a breathtaking pattern — the glowing band of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. With even a modest telescope, you can spot our nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda. Modern telescopes now allow us to observe billions of galaxies, showcasing the vast extent of the Universe. Among this cosmic sea lies a particularly fascinating class of phenomena: cosmic fountains. In these galaxies, matter is expelled from their central regions at speeds approaching that of light, streaming far beyond the boundaries of their host galaxies — much like a fountain in a garden, except instead of water, it’s plasma gas. These extraordinary structures are being discovered in increasing numbers by powerful radio telescopes such as MeerKAT in South Africa and will soon be explored in unprecedented detail with the upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an international effort involving 16 countries. In this curiosity-driven talk, we will explore: what these cosmic fountains are (stunning appearances), how they can grow to cosmic scales spanning millions of light-years, why they travel so fast (approaching speed of light), and most intriguingly, how they have shaped our Universe as we know it(?).

Dr. Gourab Giri began his research journey in 2017 with a master’s thesis on galaxy mergers in the nearby universe—a topic that sparked his deep fascination with how galaxies grow and evolve. This interest led him to pursue a PhD in numerical astrophysics (universe in a computer) at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, where he explored how different galactic phenomena shape their surroundings. After completing his doctorate in 2023, he continued this work as a SARAO postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. In 2025, he joined the Institute of Radio Astronomy in Bologna (Italy) as a FANTI Fellow, where he lead a project AURORA (that focuses on cosmic fountains), dedicated to understanding jets of fountains across cosmic scales. Beyond research, he enjoys sharing the excitement of astronomy with a wider audience by writing outreach articles for platforms like Astrobites and CosmicVarta.