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NRF|SAAO Cape Town Open Night
April 25 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Join us for Open Nights at the South African Astronomical Observatory (NRF/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.
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- 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.
Speaker: Thobekile Ngwane
Bio:
Thobekile is a PhD candidate in Astronomy at Stellenbosch University and SAAO, specialising in Near-Earth Asteroids. Her work focuses on developing tools and techniques for the rapid follow-up and classification of newly discovered asteroids, contributing to global efforts in planetary defense. She previously completed her MSc at the University of Cape Town as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, where she used the Lesedi telescope to study asteroid composition. Beyond research, Thobekile is actively involved in public engagement in her community, including outreach through the SAAO and her role as President of the Zimbabwean Astronomical Society
Abstract:
Keeping Up With the Asteroid Families: Collisions, Drama and Everything in-between!
Asteroids, found mostly in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter, are believed to be the leftover remnants from when our Solar System formed some 4.5 billion years ago. Far from being just rocks in space, they carry within them the raw ingredients of planets, oceans, and perhaps life itself, making them one of our best tools for understanding how our Solar System was born, how it evolved, and what that means for Earth today.
This talk traces the journey of those fragments, how we identify them, how we read their histories, and how subtle forces acting over large timescales gradually nudge family members onto new trajectories. Some drift far enough to cross Earth’s orbit entirely, graduating from main belt residents to Near-Earth Asteroids: a population that is simultaneously our best window into the early solar system and, on a bad day, a threat.
We will look at what Near Earth Asteroids are made of, where they come from, and why their composition matters far beyond the question of impact hazard. We will look at how astronomers build an orbital solution from sparse observations scattered across time and different locations. We will look at some interesting asteroids, including Apophis. Apophis (named for the Egyptian god of chaos) will make its historic close approach in April 2029 at ~32,000 km. It will pass closer than many satellites. No need to panic, but you will want to look up!