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NRF|SAAO Cape Town Open Night
October 10 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
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 Observatory’s outreach 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: Leyya Stockenstroom
Bio:
Leyya Stockenstroom is a second-year Astrophysics PhD student at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on the hydrogen gas in galaxies, the raw material that fuels the formation of new stars. By studying how this gas relates to star formation, she aims to better understand how and why galaxies change and evolve over the history of the Universe.
Abstract: The Universe Beyond What the Eye Can See: Astronomy Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum
What would the Universe look like if we could see radio waves? Or X-rays? Or infrared light? Our eyes only see a tiny fraction of the light that fills the cosmos. By observing the cosmos at different wavelengths, astronomers can uncover things that are completely invisible to us. From energetic gamma rays to brilliant blue stars and cold hidden skeletons of gas, each part of the electromagnetic spectrum reveals hidden secrets of the Universe.
In this talk, we will journey across the electromagnetic spectrum and explore how astronomers use different telescopes to study exploding stars, black holes, stellar nurseries, and gas between galaxies. We will see how the same astronomical objects can look drastically different depending on the wavelength at which they are observed, and how combining these observations allows us to build a more complete picture of the Universe, while highlighting some of the world’s most exciting telescopes.