Episode 47: SALT and Near-Earth Asteroids (re-run)
with Dr Moses Mogotsi and Dr Nicolas Erasmus
This is a re-run of the very first episode of The Cosmic Savannah! We’re re-running it in preparation for our next episode where we’ll be speaking again with one of our guests, Nicolas Erasmus, and getting an exciting update!
In episode 1, we introduce ourselves and our vision for the podcast. SALT Astronomer Dr Moses Mogotsi then describes what it’s like to use the biggest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere (from 00:12m).
Lastly, Dr Nicolas Erasmus tells us about the hunt for near-earth asteroids (from 00:23m) using the ATLAS network. Nic explains how another ATLAS telescope is being installed in South Africa in order to achieve continuous coverage of the Southern night sky.
Above: SAAO Researcher Dr Nicolas Erasmus and his MSc student Petro Janse Van Rensburg observed a large (1-2 km) asteroid passing Earth at about 75 times the distance to the moon. But in he background, a distant spiral galaxy!
Episode Links:
SAAO: http://www.saao.ac.za
ATLAS: http://atlas.fallingstar.com
SALT: http://www.salt.ac.za
Minor Planet Center: https://minorplanetcenter.net/
SARAO: https://www.ska.ac.za/about/sarao/
UCT Astronomy: http://www.ast.uct.ac.za/
African VLBI Network: https://www.ska.ac.za/science-engineering/avn/
This week’s guests:
Dr Moses Mogotsi 
Dr Nicolas Erasmus
