Sarah Buchner, the science operations lead at the MeerKAT radio telescope in the Karoo, will present a talk at the Gordon’s Bay Yacht Club on Tuesday September 10.
She will discuss how the telescope works and what discoveries it has made. She will also discuss gravitational waves and pulsars, which are giant rotating neutron stars.
Ms Buchner has managed astronomical observation projects not only at MeerKAT, but also at the HartROA telescope and in the Antarctic. She was part of a research team that recently discovered a mysterious object that is possibly neither a black hole nor a neutron star, but something in between. The results of this research were published in the prestigious journal Science.
The MeerKAT site is the first phase of development on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) site in the Meerkat National Park. In March, this facility was used to discover nearly 50 galaxies in a single three-hour observation.
MeerKAT was also used to observe massive radio bubbles at the centre of our own galaxy, which were emitted by our central supermassive black hole millions of years ago.
Much of Ms Buchner’s own work has dealt with pulsars, which are giant rotating neutron stars. These objects emit radio beams, much like a lighthouse emitting light from a rotating lamp. The MeerKAT equipment can measure the speed of the rotation, and then infer information about the nature of the pulsar.
Pulsars are incredibly dense, packing a mass many times that of the Earth into a diameter of around 24 km. This makes them perfect for studying the fundamental processes of the universe.
The talk has been organised by SmallTalX, and is their second event in the Helderberg region. In May, they hosted herpetologist Tyrone Ping, who spoke about the snakes and reptiles of the Kogelberg area.
The public is invited to attend Ms Buchner’s talk. Tickets cost R125 per person, and include a Q&A with the speaker. The talk takes place at Gordon’s Bay Yacht Club, at the Gordon’s Bay Old Harbour.
Bookings can be made by emailing smalltalx.info@gmail.com, or by sending a WhatsApp message to 076 469 6485. The Club restaurant will be offering burgers, pizzas and soup, and there is a bar available.
