Taking young minds on a journey through space

May saw the launch of an exciting educational tool that links in with the greater project of the Africa Millimetre Telescope (AMT) and hopes to inspire the next generation to get involved in astro science.

On 10 April 2019, the historical first-ever radio image of a black hole in the galaxy M87 was released by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project. This image provided the strongest evidence up to that date for the existence of supermassive black holes. Recently EHT astronomers unveiled thefirst image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy.

The proposed AMT would result in a 15-metre radio telescope dish sensitive to the millimetre-wave regime. It is hoped to be built on the Gamsberg Mountain and be finished within the next five years. The AMT would form an essential link in the global network of radio telescopes operated by the EHT project. By combining these telescope facilities from around the globe, it simulates a virtual telescope with extremely high resolution and images of black holes can be produced. The image of 10 April 2019 caused an unprecedented scientific and societal impact and was seen by 4.5 billion people across the globe on that day.

Adding an AMT to the EHT project in Namibia would improve sensitivity and redundancy, and allow for longterm time-resolved imaging of black holes. The AMT secures long-term future science observations with the EHT. Radboud University has signed an MOU with the University of Namibia (UNAM) for collaboration on the AMT project.One of the aims of this project is to develop a strong capacity-building programme to engage and train the next generation of Namibian scientists and engineers. For this reason, the AMT mobile planetarium was brought to Namibia. After a series of training sessions to train local Namibian teachers, researchers and educators to use the mobile planetarium, it was followed by four days of shows at high schools, universities and businesses in the Windhoek area. Thereafter it travelled to schools throughout Namibia as an integral part of the mobile education programme that has been run by the Rössing Foundation for several years already.

Frans Lott, UNAM PhD student, Dr Joanne Holt, NOVA Planetarium expert, Hiiko Katjaita, UNAM MSc student.

The mobile planetarium is an inflatable dome that can host up to 30 school children and where dedicated shows and images are projected on the inside of the dome. Through these projections, the visitor is taken on a tour through our solar system and galaxy, and will be able to experience the unfathomable size of all the galaxies clumped together in space. The shows were developed by the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), in close collaboration with other partners, to form an integral part of the Namibian curriculum. The goal is to engage children for technical and scientific careers, to show the unique opportunities offered by the dark skies of Namibia, but also to educate learners and teachers and to leave behind educational material at each school that is visited, ensuring a long-term effect.

Through these projections, the visitor is taken on a tour through our solar system and galaxy, and will be able to experience the unfathomable size of all the galaxies clumped together in space.

The mobile planetarium project is a collaboration between the Radboud University Nijmegen (in particular the Radboud Radio Lab), NOVA, the University of Namibia and the Rössing Foundation.