The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) conducted an outreach program to Grade 4 learners at Caravelle Primary School in Mitchells Plain, Western Cape, last week.
The aim of the excursion was to introduce learners to the wonders of astronomy and our place in the universe.
Evelyn Makubutu, a SARAO Telescope Operator, delivered a captivating presentation that sparked the learners’ interest in the stars, planets, and the vast mysteries of space.
Ms. Petersen, a Grade 4 teacher at Caravelle Primary, expressed her appreciation for SARAO’s visit.
She shared hopes for future outreach sessions, recognising the profound impact these experiences have on sparking excitement and curiosity among the learners.
SARAO is a National Facility managed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and incorporates all national radio astronomy telescopes and programmes, including SKA.
The SKA project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area.
According to SARAO, the SKA telescope will be co-located in Africa and in Australia, and will have an unprecedented scope in observations, exceeding the image resolution quality of the Hubble Space Telescope by a factor of 50 times, whilst also having the ability to image huge areas of sky in parallel.
The SKA South Africa Land Acquisition Programme is one of many projects that SKA South Africa is currently embarking on to make the SKA a reality.
Other projects are the the South African MeerKAT radio telescope, situated 90 km outside the Carnarvon, in the Northern Cape.
The Hartebeesthoek Site in Johannesburg West, is another project, built in 1961 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America.
An 85 foot = 26 metre diameter antenna was used to get data from, and send commands to, many unmanned US space probes going beyond Earth orbit.
The Department of Environmental Affairs in partnership with Department of Science and Technology have commissioned the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for SKA Phase 1 South Africa in the Karoo Central Astronomy Advantage Area.
Picture of learners, Evelyn Makubutu, telescope operator at SARAO, Angus Flowers, Science Communications (far right) and Ms Petersen, Grade 4 teacher at Caravelle Primary.