The Cosmic Savannah

Episode 83: Celebrating 20 Years of SALT

31 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jacinta and Francois wrap up Season 6 of The Cosmic Savannah with this exciting and reflective episode, discussing the history, science and legacy of ...

Episode 82: When Telescopes Think - AI and the Future of Astronomy

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Cosmic Savannah, Dan and Francois sit down with Dr Nick Erasmus to discuss the ATLAS digital assistant and the use of Artificia...

Episode 81: One Last Burst - Gamma Rays and Afterglows

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Jacinta chats with Dr Simon de Wet about the discoveries he made during his Master's and PhD theses regarding mysterious gamma ra...

Episode 81: One Last Burst - Gamma Rays and Afterglows

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Jacinta chats with Dr Simon de Wet about the discoveries he made during his Master's and PhD theses regarding mysterious gamma ra...

Episode 80: The Mightee MeerKAT’s View of the Universe

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

with Prof Matt Jarvis, Dr Imogen Whittam and Dr Anastasia PonomarevaIn this episode, Jacinta takes us back to Oxford to catch up with researchers lead...

Episode 79: RADHIANCE research at the University of Oxford

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we hear from three postgraduate astronomy students from the University of Cape Town about their worldly adventures during a research ...

Episode 78: Back Under The Stars – A New Dawn!

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We are back with the second half of season 6!In this episode, we are joined by Kevin Govender, Chair of the National Organising Committee and Directo...

Episode 77: Troublesome ‘Inkathazo’ and the Age of Giants

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this "mid-season special" episode, we introduce you to an extraordinary giant radio galaxy nicknamed "Inkathazo", meaning ‘trouble’ in isiXhosa...

A Heritage Day Special: Pulsars and possibilities – a conversation with Jocelyn Bell-Burnell (rerun)

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a rerun of a previous episode (60) titled Pulsars and possibilities with Prof. Jocelyn Bell-Burnell. Firstly, The Cosmic Savannah is very exci...

Episode 76: First ever Live Show debut at Astronomy Olympics

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week, join us for a special live episode from the IAU General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa. Featuring black hole simulations expert Dr. Ni...

Announcement: The Cosmic Savannah Live Show

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Remember to get your tickets for the first ever Cosmic Savannah Live Show at the CTICC on Wednesday 14 August at 19:00. Tickets are free to the publi...

Episode 75: Exploring the Universe at the SARAO Conference

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this double feature episode, Jacinta interviews two amazing astronomers at the SARAO (South African Radio Astronomical Observatory) conference. The...

Special Announcement: The Cosmic Savannah Live Show

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With Dr Nicole Thomas and Prof Brian Schmidt It is with great excitement that we announce the first ever Cosmic Savannah Live Show on the 14th Of Augu...

Episode 74: Simulating Cosmic Nurseries

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode of Cosmic Savannah features Professor James Chibueze, a distinguished professor at the University of South Africa, discussing his researc...

Episode 73: Burping Black Holes

03 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of The Cosmic Savannah, hosts Dr. Tshiamiso Makwela, Dr. Jacinta Delhaize, and Dr. Daniel Cunnama speak with Dr. Eli Kasai from the Un...

Episode 72: Exploring New Horizons in Astronomy

19 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of The Cosmic Savannah, our hosts chat with Dr. Rojovola Zara-Nomena Randriamanakoto from the South African Astronomical Observatory a...

Episode 71: Dark Side of the Universe

05 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this milestone episode of The Cosmic Savannah, hosts Tshiamiso, Jacinta and Dan celebrate the start of Season Six and the podcast's fifth anniversa...

Episode 70: Season 5 in Review

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The band is back together! In this episode Jacinta, Tshia and Dan sit together in the cupboard once again to catch up and to reflect on Season 5. The ...

Mini Episode: Big data, big IDIA

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this mini episode Jacinta has a quick interview with Professor Russ Taylor, one of the founders of IDIA ( The Inter-University Institute for Data I...

Episode 69: Into the Matrix – Visualising Polar Ring Galaxies

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the second part of the Polar ring galaxy series, Jacinta and Tshia drop in on Dr Lucia Marchetti and Alex Sivitilli in the IDIA (The Inter-universi...

Episode 68: Untangling the Origins of Polar Ring Galaxies

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week Dr Nathan Deg returns to The Cosmic Savannah to discuss Polar-ring galaxies and how he models these incredible structures. The post Episode...

Episode 67: A Stroll to the Edge of The Universe

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this “unplugged” episode, we hear from our own! New host Tshiamiso Makwela tells us about her research and we introduce you to our new podcast ...

Episode 66: Meertime Mysteries – Pulsars and Prizes

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this new exciting episode Professor Matthew Bailes returns to discuss his recent work on Pulsars as well as his thoughts and feelings on winning th...

Episode 65: Zombies of the Cosmos (Re-run)

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is a re-run of episode 29 of The Cosmic Savannah in anticipation of an upcoming interview with Prof Matthew Bailes so all our listeners can get u...

Episode 64: Bursts from Space

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Tshiamiso and Dan have a discussion with Alexander Andersson from Oxford University about Zooniverse, citizen science projects and ho...

Episode 63: How Galaxies Evolve – The Quest for Cold Gas

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Jacinta sits down with Dr. Sthabile Kolwa to discuss the ways in which galaxies change over cosmic time, how astronomers are able to ...

Episode 62: Behind the Scenes of the SKAO with Phil Diamond

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the third and final part of the SKAO Construction Commencement Ceremony series, Jacinta sits down with Professor Phil Diamond, the Director-General...

Episode 61: Part 2 – SKAO Construction Commencement Ceremony – Australia

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the second part of Episode 61, Jacinta takes us on a journey to the SKA-low site in Western Australia and shares her experience of the Construction...

Part 1 - SKAO Construction Commencement Ceremony - South Africa

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Join Episode 61 as Dan reminisces about visiting the SKAO site in South Africa. He shares highlights from the Construction Commencement Ceremony for t...

Episode 60: Pulsars and possibilities – a conversation with Jocelyn Bell-Burnell

12 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the world of astrophysics, few names shine as brightly as Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell. In today's episode, we are very privileged to welcome Joc...

Pre-season special: What’s been happening?

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Cosmic Savannah Podcast returns for its 5th season, taking listeners on another captivating cosmic journey. Explore distant galaxies, enigmatic bl...

Episode 59: Construction of the SKA commences!

04 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 5th of December 2022 sees the commencement of construction of the long-awaited Square Kilometre Array (SKA)! We are honoured to be joined by the S...

Episode 58: Season 4 in Review

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode, Jacinta and Dan take a step back to review the past year of the Cosmic Savannah podcast. We chat about some of the highlights ...

Episode 57: From dust to dust

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we are joined by Dr Omima Osman who studies the lifecycles of cosmic dust. Omima explains how she is using computer simulations to und...

Episode 56: Our supermassive black hole

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy!...

Episode 55: A Trip Down Under (Re-run)

10 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

An oldie but a goodie - re-run of Episode 11. Jacinta takes us on a tour of her homeland, into the Australian bush, and chats about pathfinders, precu...

Episode 54: The African Network of Women in Astronomy

26 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode we are joined by fours members of the board of the recently established African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA). AfNWA is...

Episode 53: Space lasers!

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A powerful, naturally occurring “space laser”, called a megamaser, has been discovered with South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope in a galaxy n...

Episode 52: Head Space

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this week’s episode, we take a step back from astronomy and focus on mental health in academia and beyond. We are joined by Dr Jack Radcliffe, an...

Episode 51: No Planet B

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We are joined by Prof Travis Rector, co-founder of Astronomers for Planet Earth, who chats about why and how astronomers can teach climate change! The...

Episode 50: Titans of Astronomy

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In celebration of our 50th Episode, we are joined by a Titan of Astronomy, Dr Bernie Fanaroff, who speaks with us about his illustrious career and his...

Episode 49: SALT Spectroscopy

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is in celebration of the IAU Women and Girls in Astronomy Month in February. We speak with Dr Elizabeth Naluminsa who is one of the first...

Episode 48: ATLAS – Holding up the Heavens!

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're joined by SAAO Astronomer Dr Nic Erasmus who has been responsible for the newest telescope on the SAAO site (And he's just had a comet named aft...

Episode 47: SALT and Near-Earth Asteroids (re-run)

27 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 aga...

Episode 46: A crash of clusters

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Kenda Knowles. Kenda has just released a beautiful new dataset called the MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey (M...

Episode 45: The James Webb Space Telescope

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope will finally launch into space on December 18 2021! In this episode we are joined by Prof Christy Tremonti...

Episode 44: Stars behaving badly! (Re-run)

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We are joined by two experts in stellar astronomy, Priscilla Muheki from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda and Distinguished Profes...

Episode 43: The search for hidden hydrogen

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Tariq Blecher and Shilpa Ranchod who talk to us about the clever ways they are trying to capture the elusive sign...

Episode 42: Rockin’ all over the World

11 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We are joined by Dr Eugene Grosch who is a geologist and petrologist at Rhodes University in South Africa to discuss how planets create the building b...

Episode 41: How to Train Your Galaxy

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We are joined by Dr Rob Yates, from the University of Surrey, who chats with us about how to recreate the formation of galaxies inside a supercomputer...

Episode 40: The mystery of the Fast Radio Burst

13 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This episode we speak with Dr Marisa Geyer. She is a pulsar astronomer and Commissioning Scientist at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (S...

Episode 39: Erupting novae

30 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode, we are joined by Dr Miriam Nyamai who studies thermonuclear eruptions on the surface of white dwarf stars! Miriam explains how...

Episode 38: Rise of the machines

16 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We are joined by Dr Michelle Lochner who is a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa. Michelle is developing n...

Episode 37: Square Kilometre Array telescope is go for construction!

02 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to Season Four! We start with a bang and speak with the Director General of the Square Kilometre Array Telescope, Prof Phil Diamond! Phil tell...

Episode 36: A Year in Review

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 36 marks the second anniversary of The Cosmic Savannah. We take the opportunity to reflect on what has been a very different year, but not wit...

Episode 35: Rising Stars

18 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we feature some rising stars in African Astronomy! We're joined by high school learners Indiphile Madletyana and Thabo Maliea who both show ...

Episode 34: The Life Cycle of Galaxies

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This episode we hear from a familiar voice! SALT Astronomer Dr Moses Mogotsi was our first ever guest on The Cosmic Savannah. He joins us again to exp...

Episode 33: Mars Rovers and the South African National Space Agency

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

with Tiaan Strydom February 18 2021 will see NASA’s latest Mars Rover, Perseverance, land on the red planet. We are joined by Tiaan Strydom, the Bus...

Episode 32: The MeerKAT Fornax Survey

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we will be discussing some more exciting work being conducted with the MeerKAT radio telescope. We're joined by Dr Paola Serra from th...

Episode 31: Cosmic Beasts and Where to Find Them

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This year we get off with a bang as our very own Jacinta has a new paper out and takes her turn in the hot seat to tell us all about it! Along with he...

Bonus: Rerun – Event Horizon Telescope

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This holiday bonus episode is a re-run of Episode 5 from Season 1. We chat about about supermassive black holes, the Event Horizon Telescope and the A...

Episode 30: Pretty Planetary Nebulae

10 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Kelebogile Bonokwane talks with us about her MSc project investigating potential binary stars hiding in the centres of magnificent planetary nebulae. ...

Episode 29: Zombies of the Cosmos

26 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we learn all about neutron stars and pulsars, which can be thought of as the "corpses" of dead giant stars. We are firstly joined by Prof Ma...

Episode 28: Under a Shared Sky

12 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Join us this week as we explore the 'Intimate Cosmology' of the indigenous people of South Africa, and the importance of preserving these stories for ...

Episode 27: A Bamboo Planetarium

29 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week's episode sees us celebrate SAAO's 200th anniversary, Dan premiering a full-length planetarium show, and the inspiring work being done by Th...

Episode 26: Beyond 200 years of astronomy in South Africa

15 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to Season 3 of The Cosmic Savannah! This week we get up to speed with all the activities over the break, hear from Assoc Prof Vanessa McBride ...

Mini Episode 8: Capturing the whispers of hydrogen

02 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this mini episode, we chat to Andrew “Andy” Firth, a Masters students at the South African Astronomical Observatory and the University of Cape ...

Mini Episode 7: Beyond the zone of avoidance

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today we chat with Sambatriniaina Rajohnson about her work on the Galactic Plane Survey and the Zone of Avoidance. Check out the full show notes at ww...

Mini Episode: The Universe evolves too

17 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week’s mini-episode, we chat with Liantsoa Finaritra Randrianjanahary who is a PhD candidate at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Li...

Mini Episode: "From Hospitality to aspiring Astronomer"

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this mini-episode, we talk with Bret Yotti a student and teaching assistant from the University of Cape Town (UCT) as well as a presenter at the Iz...

Mini Episode: "But How Does Astronomy Benefit Humanity?!"

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this mini-episode we talk with PhD candidate Tshiamiso Makwela from the University of Cape Town. She shared with us some interesting results from s...

Mini Episode: The Most Powerful Explosion Ever Recorded

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this mini episode we talk with Reikantseone Diretse. Reika is a Master's student from the University of Cape Town. He talks about his involvement w...

Mini Episode: Seeing Beyond the Satellites

20 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this mini-episode we talk with PhD student Brandon Engelbrecht from the University of Western Cape (UWC). We discuss his current work in removing r...

Mini Episode: Watching the watchers

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this special mini episode of the Cosmic Savannah, we are joined by Timothy Roelf who is a Masters student at the University of Cape Town. Tim talks...

Special Episode: Annular Solar Eclipse 21 June 2020

17 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this special bonus episode we discuss the upcoming Annular Solar Eclipse occurring on 21 June 2020 across much of Africa and Asia! The post Specia...

Episode 25: A Year in Review

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this the final episode of Season 2 of The Cosmic Savannah podcast, Dan and Jacinta look back on the past year and some of their favourite episodes....

Episode 24: HIRAX

10 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 24 features Professor Kavilan Moodley who joins us to discuss another exciting project in radio astronomy in South Africa, HIRAX! HIRAX is a r...

Episode 23: ThunderKAT

30 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 23 of The Cosmic Savannah podcast, we are joined by the Head of Astronomy at the University of Cape Town, Professor Patrick Woudt. Patrick ...

Episode 22: Milky Way blowing bubbles!

12 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on The Cosmic Savannah Podcast week we are joined by Dr Fernando Camilo who is the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) Chief ...

Episode 21: X-ray binaries and Astrocomms!

27 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on The Cosmic Savannah Podcast we are joined by South African Astronomer, Dr Tana Joseph. Tana is currently based at the University of Manch...

Episode 20: Cosmic Chemistry

13 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In our first episode of the 2020s and Episode 20 we are honoured to be joined by Prof Ewine van Dishoeck who is a Dutch astronomer and chemist. We lea...

Episode 19: Astro Molo Mhlaba

19 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 19 we learn all about the inspirational Astro Molo Mhlaba programme in Khayelitsha (Cape Town). This project targets the issues of inclusiv...

Episode 18: Dark skies over Africa

05 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Carringtone Kinyanjui and Olayinka Fagbemiro join us to talk about incredible astronomy outreach projects happening in Kenya and Nigeria. We talk abou...

Episode 17: Space Telescopes!

21 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 17 of The Cosmic Savannah, we discuss space telescopes! We talk about the amazing Hubble Space Telescope and the upcoming James Webb Space ...

Episode 16: Transit of Mercury, 11 November 2019

06 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On the 11th of November 2019, the planet Mercury will pass between Earth and the Sun. This transit of Mercury will be visible across all of Africa by ...

Episode 15: The Vatican Observatory and more!

31 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dan visits the Vatican Observatory and chats with the Director Brother Guy Consolmagno about how to reconcile faith and the Big Bang! We also talk to ...

Episode 14: Modeling Meerkats

17 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to season 2 of The Cosmic Savannah! We take you on a trip to the African Savannah to the Kruger National Park and take a peek behind-the-scene...

Inter-Season Bonus: Soapbox Science

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Season Two of The Cosmic Savannah is on it's way! But in the meantime, our science-savvy listeners can get their fix at a very exciting live event hap...

Episode 13: The South African Astronomical Observatory

01 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In our final episode for Season 1, we are joined by Professor Petri Vaisanen, Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). Petri dis...

Episode 12: Further Adventures in Oz

18 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jacinta continues her visit to Australia, this week chatting with Dr Jeff Wagg about the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and Ahmed Elagali about his work...

Episode 11: A Trip Down Under

04 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jacinta takes us on a tour of her homeland, into the Australian bush, and chats about pathfinders, precursor telescopes and exciting collaborations be...

Episode 10: Stars behaving badly!

20 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We are joined by two experts in stellar astronomy, Priscilla Muheki from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda and Distinguished Profes...

Episode 9: Simulating the Universe - Part 2

06 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We continue our discussion from Episode 8 on simulating the Universe, this week focusing on the simulation of actual galaxies. Nicole explains the SIM...

Episode 8: Simulating the Universe

23 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Prof Romeel Davé, from the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, and who spent 5 years working in Cape Town, introduces us to simulations! He explains how we ...

Episode 7: Under African Skies

09 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 7 of the Cosmic Savannah we chat with Tanya and Simon about their astronomy at Namibia's HESS Telescope and the VLA in the USA. We also cha...

Episode 6: Galactic Neighbourhoods

26 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

with Prof Eric Wilcots and Sinenhlanhla Precious Sikhosana In this episode, we speak with Prof Eric Wilcots and Sinenhlanhla Precious Sikhosana about ...

Episode 5 (Special Edition): Event Horizon Telescope - First Results

12 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

with Dr Roger Deane and Dr Rhodri Evans On 10 April 2019 six simultaneous press conferences around the world broadcast the first results from the Even...

Episode 4: Black holes and radio jets

11 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

with Dr Imogen Whittam and Lerato Sebokolodi Episode 4 features Dr Imogen Whittam, a SARAO Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of the Western Cape a...

Episode 3: SETI with MeerKAT

29 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

with Dr Griffin Foster In this episode Dr Griffin Foster describes the planned hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence with South Africa’s MeerKAT te...

Episode 2: Instruments and Singing Asteroids

28 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

with Dr Amanda Sickafoose and Vanessa Lorenzo In Episode 2, we hear from Dr Amanda Sickafoose who tells us about the complicated instrumentation her t...