UWC Astrophysics Group

An interesting and informative article by Prof Ed Elson on the MeerKAT radio telescope.

MeerKAT: the South African radio telescope that’s transformed our understanding of the cosmos MeerKAT has made remarkable contributions to South African and international science.

UWC HONOURS SCHOLARSHIP 2024.

HONOURS SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 2024 CENTRE FOR RADIO COSMOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE DEADLINE: 9 October 2023 The Centre for Radio Cosmology (CRC) in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at UWC isinternationally recognised for its research in cosmology and galaxy evolution with MeerKAT, theSquare Kilo…

MSc AND PhD SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 2024 CENTRE FOR RADIO COSMOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE DEADLINE: 5 June 2023

The Centre for Radio Cosmology (CRC) at UWC is internationally recognised for its research in cosmology and galaxy evolution with MeerKAT, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and other telescopes (see astro.uwc.ac.za for further details). In 2023, the CRC research team includes 24 PhD/ MSc students and 11 postdoctoral fellows. Postgraduate students at the CRC work in a friendly and highly active research environment, with support from postdoctoral researchers.

The CRC is offering MSc and PhD scholarships for 2024. Successful applicants will be supervised by the team of CRC staff – Prof Ed Elson, Prof Lerothodi Leeuw, Dr Michelle Lochner, Prof Roy Maartens, Dr Siyambonga Matshawule, Prof Mario Santos, Prof Russ Taylor – on cutting-edge projects described briefly below. The available topics cover the Key Science goals of the SKA in cosmology and galaxy evolution – which are closely linked to the science goals of the major upcoming optical/ infrared surveys, such as DESI, Rubin/LSST and Euclid.

Students also have the possibility to be co-supervised by visiting professors Romeel Davé and Alkistis Pourtsidou (University of Edinburgh), Andrew Baker (Rutgers University), Matt Jarvis (Oxford University), Chris Clarkson (Queen Mary University of London), Stefano Camera (University of Turin), Phil Bull (University of Manchester) and Jingying Wang (Shanghai AO).

Students have opportunities to spend time in institutions abroad, in particular the ones just mentioned. Our research depends critically on data science and CRC students have access to the resources of our partner IDIA (Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy) at UWC (www.idia.ac.za).

For further details on how to apply, click on the link below.

https://astro.uwc.ac.za/msc-and-phd-scholarships-for-2024-centre-for-radio-cosmology-university-of-the-western-cape-deadline-5-june-2023/

Apply to speak at Soapbox Science 2023 Soapbox Science’s 2023 speaker call is NOW OPEN! Apply online here! Deadline 28th February 2023 Are you a woman, non-binary or genderqueer person who works in science and who is passionate about…

Dusted off the telescope and aimed it at the sun. Got back some sun spots. The last image is taken from NASA's near real time sun observations.

P.s: Would not recommend looking directly through a telescope aimed at the sun.

The University of the Western Cape

BITDN Regional Hackathon - Cape Town - 11-13 October 2022

The BRICS Intelligent Telescope and Data Network (BITDN), flagship project of BRICS Astronomy, in conjunction with Inter-university Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA), International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy for Development (IAU OAD) and Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) Big Data, are organising a Data Science Hackathon event, to be held at the South African Astronomical Observatory, Cape Town on 111 - 13 October 2022. The event will feature presentations from experts in the field and tutorials in data science and machine learning, followed by a hackathon task. The projects for this hackathon involve performing sentiment analysis on Twitter data, as well as the classification of fruit using spectrum data. Participants will have the opportunity to develop their skills, network and compete in teams for prizes.

The deadline for registration is at 17:00 on Monday, 26 September 2022

Requirements:
- Basic working knowledge of Python programming
- Must be an Honours or Masters student

Certificates of attendance will be issued to everyone who takes part and awesome prizes are up for grabs.

For more information about the event and to register, click on the link below:

BITDN Regional Hackathon – Hack4dev The BRICS Intelligent Telescope and Data Network (BITDN) is a partnership between the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA) and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) under the BRICS Astronomy programme. The project looks to impact positively on society through va...

"We don’t know if dark matter exists. So why do astronomers keep looking?" By UWC Postdoc: Dr. Gauri Sharma

We don't know if dark matter exists. So why do astronomers keep looking? A comparison of star-forming galaxies suggests, surprisingly, that dark matter and visible matter do interact – taking us closer to understanding what keeps the galaxies together.

Prof. Roy Maartens and Dr. Michelle Lochner presenting at the opening of the African Astronomical Society 2022 conference. Showcasing the amazing work being done at UWC in regards to Radio Cosmology and Machine Learning.

The registration for the EU H2020 SKIES (SKilled, Innovative and Entrepreneurial Scientists) training and mentorship program in South Africa is now open!

Great opportunity for students and post-docs in South Africa!

SKIES Training and Mentorship Programme South Africa Cape Town, South Africa, 4-8 April 2022 Instructors:  Lucia Marchetti (UCT), Kechil Kirkham (IDIA/SARAO, SKA), Mark Johnson (SARAO)  with the participation of SARAO, UCT d-school, UCT Research Contracts and Innovation Office and UWC Technology Transfer Office Welcome to the new SKIES Training and ...