SAAO Cape Town Open Night

Speaker: Gideon de Beer

Astronomy found Gideon in his primary school days during a visit from the local planetarium that simulates the night sky. The experience stuck and the seed was planted. He took all the required subjects in high school required for a BSc, and then completed his undergraduate and honours degrees in Physics and Mathematics at The University of Pretoria. He is now continuing with his MSc degree in Astronomy at the SAAO/UCT. His research involves multi-wavelength data from MeerKAT and optical surveys, and investigating the population of extended radio sources in and behind the Small Magellanic Cloud. Gideon’s goal is to become an astronomer after choosing to be disciplined enough to follow his dreams since my undergraduate days. The SKA project is starting to take shape and the future of radio astronomy is looking very bright!

Gideon also finds joy in volunteering some of his spare time to outreach programs around the Observatory, to plant seeds of his own in young hearts and minds in hopes that more will find the courage and discipline to follow a career in a STEM field. When he is not looking up at the wonders of our universe, he enjoys cooking, reading and gaming with friends.

Title: Prepare to discover your inner astronomer

Abstract: Fancy new radio telescopes like MeerKAT are helping us explore far-off galaxies in a whole new way. Did you know that anyone can join in online projects and become citizen scientists by contributing to astronomy while also having fun? There are a multitude of projects already online on a platform called Zooniverse, during this open night talk you will hear about 2 of these, and be guided through one too! This teamwork between astronomers and the general public is not only helping us all learn more about the universe but also teaching computers how to do it better in the future. So, by joining in, you’re not just stargazing; you’re helping us train the next generation of cosmic (Artificial Intelligence) detectives!