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The Citizen
20-05-2025
- The Citizen
South Africa's best stays for stargazing
When the city lights fade, the stars come out to play — and nowhere is this truer than in South Africa's wild spaces. With some of the world's lowest levels of light pollution and a culture deeply rooted in storytelling, our landscapes offer front-row seats to the cosmos. From desert dunes to mountain plateaus, these accommodation spots don't just offer a bed — they invite you to sleep beneath the stars. Here are South Africa's best stays that deliver the night sky on a silver platter. !Xaus Lodge – Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Northern Cape With zero light pollution and a view stretching across the red Kalahari dunes. !Xaus Lodge offers raw, uninterrupted access to the night sky. The lodge is entirely off-grid, solar-powered and community-owned, making it a sustainable choice in a surreal landscape. The lodge provides star maps and encourages guests to step outside after dinner to witness the vast dome of stars. The silence of the desert only adds to the experience. Sutherland Guesthouses – Sutherland, Northern Cape Sutherland is home to the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. The town is often called South Africa's stargazing capital, and many guesthouses here cater specifically to astro-tourism. One of the guesthouses like this is Sutherland Guest Houses Caravan Park & Stargazing. Local guides offer night tours using professional telescopes, or you can DIY it with a thermos and a pair of binoculars from your accommodation's stoep. Kagga Kamma Nature Reserve – Cederberg, Western Cape Nestled in otherworldly rock formations, Kagga Kamma offers a 'star suite' that's nothing more than a luxurious bed under the open sky. There's also an on-site stargazing dome and telescopes for guided sessions. Choose between sleeping in a cave suite or fully outdoors with nothing between you and the Milky Way. ALSO READ: New safari and sea adventure route launches in KZN AfriCamps at Karoo 1 – Hex River Valley, Western Cape This glamping destination strikes the perfect balance between rugged charm and comfort. The dry Karoo climate means skies stay clear for much of the year. Each luxury tent has a private deck and firepit — ideal for post-braai stargazing with a glass of local red. Nightjar Dome – Dullstroom, Mpumalanga A romantic, glass-roofed dome in the hills outside Dullstroom, Nightjar offers a luxurious escape in nature with panoramic views of both sky and forest. The dome's skylight lets you fall asleep under the stars without leaving your bed. Add an indoor open fireplace and a wood-fired hot tub outside, and it's a win for winter, too. The Zenkaya at Rosemary Hill – Pretoria Just 20 minutes from Pretoria on the beautiful Rosemary Hill Farm, The Zenkaya is a stylish two-sleeper cabin that blends cutting-edge modular design with natural surroundings. Floor-to-ceiling glass panels slide open to let the outside in, and the wood-fired hot tub under the trees is an unforgettable spot to soak and stargaze. There's even a tree-top outdoor shower for the bold. Ndaka Safari Lodge – Nambiti Private Game Reserve, KZN Set in a Big Five reserve near Ladysmith, this family-run lodge is known for small group sizes, excellent guiding and heartwarming hospitality. Evening game drives often end with a quiet moment of star appreciation, and the lodge's open areas are perfect for lying back with a blanket and a glass of wine or cup of coffee. Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve – Cederberg, Western Cape A luxurious heritage lodge set among ancient sandstone, Bushmans Kloof brings together nature, history and healing. The reserve is also a proud custodian of San rock art. Their guides weave celestial storytelling into night-time experiences, blending San cosmology with astronomy. What to pack for stargazing A red-filtered torch (to preserve night vision) Blanket or camping chair Sky guide apps like Stellarium or SkyView A flask of hot chocolate, or wine Binoculars or a telescope if you have one You don't need a fancy observatory to feel awe under the stars — just clear skies, a good view and time to slow down. Whether you're listening to desert silence in the Kgalagadi or watching stars from a glamping dome in Dullstroom, these stays prove that South Africa's most memorable nights are the ones spent looking up. ALSO READ: South African spots that feel like the middle of nowhere The post South Africa's best stays for stargazing appeared first on Getaway Magazine. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
High-school student accidentally discovers black hole 'light echo' twice as wide as the Milky Way
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. ANAHEIM, Calif. — Long after the black hole in the center of a galaxy sputters out, you can still see its ghost lingering in surrounding gas clouds aglow with leftover radiation, like wisps of smoke emanating from an already extinguished flame. Astronomers call these cosmic ghosts "light echoes" — and that's what high-school junior Julian Shapiro found while scanning the cosmos for supernova remnants. "There are these outer regions of gas being ionized by a supermassive black hole, which results in this echo," Shapiro said at a March 20 presentation here at the 2025 American Physical Society (APS) Global Physics Summit. Shapiro, 17, is a student at The Dalton School in New York City. But in between classes and scoping out potential colleges, he's also an independent astronomer who presents at global conferences like this week's APS meeting. Originally, Shapiro began sifting through the DECaPS2 survey — an inventory of the southern galactic plane from the Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile — to find the debris of exploding stars in supernova remnants and planetary nebulas. But after zeroing in on one such object, he found its structure didn't match the wispy filaments characteristic of a supernova remnant, nor did it show evidence of a supernova at its center. "It was a real surprise to stumble upon this," Shapiro told Live Science. Related: High school students who came up with 'impossible' proof of Pythagorean theorem discover 9 more solutions to the problem The object, which he believes to be a light echo, stands in a field of potential supermassive black holes. Using measurements from the Southern African Large Telescope, he found high contents of oxygen and ionized sulfur sprinkled into the region — both indicators of shocked material. All of these signs suggest that the object is the afterglow of a now-dormant black hole, which once spewed radiation that ionized the surrounding gas, causing it to emit light even after the black hole quieted down. Shapiro currently pegs the light echo at about 150,000 to 250,000 light-years in diameter — about 1.5 to two times the width of the entire Milky Way galaxy. And if his estimates hold up, he thinks it could be a viable candidate for the largest light echo ever discovered. "This object covers a large area in the sky, which makes it a bit easier to get in-depth images of," Shapiro said. According to Sasha Plavin, a black hole researcher at Harvard University who was not involved in the research, echoes like the one Shapiro discovered can help us learn more about how black holes behave in the hearts of galaxies. "I really like how carefully [Shapiro] looked into these images," Plavin told Live Science. "These galactic events are always of interest, and I think these echoes are a great way of studying them." Plavin is also interested in seeing how this new light echo measures up to others — whether it occurred faster or slower than existing examples. "Putting this discovery in a wider context could be useful in the future," he said. RELATED STORIES —Unproven Einstein theory of 'gravitational memory' may be real after all, new study hints —Is our universe trapped inside a black hole? This James Webb Space Telescope discovery might blow your mind —Evidence for Stephen Hawking's unproven black hole theory may have just been found — at the bottom of the sea As Shapiro continues studying the light echo, he hopes to learn more about its composition with measurements of its different regions. But in the meantime, he's excited to continue contributing to black hole science — even if he came across it by accident. "My involvement in this area of research came as a bit of a surprise to me," he said. "But I hope this object, in particular, helps expand the knowledge of galaxy activities that we don't have too great of an understanding of."
Zawya
21-02-2025
- Science
- Zawya
Science, Technology and Innovation on presentation of South Africa's National Astro-Tourism Strategy to Parliament
On Tuesday, 18 February, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Blade Nzimande, supported by Ms. Nomalungelo Gina, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, and Ms. Maggie Sotyu, Deputy Minister of Tourism, led the presentation of South Africa's National Astro-Tourism Strategy to Parliament. Last year, the Minister of Tourism, Ms. Patricia De Lille, tabled the National Astro-Tourism Strategy in Cabinet. Subsequent to this, in September last year, Cabinet approved this Strategy and in the same month, Minister De Lille and Minister Nzimande presided over the launch of this Strategy in Carnarvon in the Northern Cape. This past Tuesday, this Strategy was presented at a joint sitting of the Portfolio Committees of Science, Technology and Innovation and Tourism. In highlighting the strategic importance of astronomy and tourism to South Africa, Minister Nzimande stated that 'South Africa is fast becoming one of the leading nations in the discipline of astronomy and this is why in August last year, we hosted the prestigious General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union. This was first time this prestigious gathering was hosted on the African continent. Equally, we also have a very robust tourism sector as a country, which is a major contributor to GDP and is expected to grow significantly over the next 5 to 10 years.' Minister Nzimande also used the briefing to highlight some of South Africa's most notable investments in astronomy infrastructure, during the democratic era, which include the 10-metre Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) in Sutherland, which is the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. The MeerKAT telescope in Carnarvon, which is a precursor to the SKA project, which he said was 'going to be South Africa's single biggest scientific infrastructure.' Outlining the benefits of these investments, Minister Nzimande indicated that "the investments in these high calibre scientific instruments in astronomy enabled an exponential increase in the number of South African astronomers from 60 (only 5 of them were radio astronomers) to about 300 in the last 30 years.' The Minister Nzimande also used the opportunity to explain what astro-tourism was and further outlined the objectives of South Africa's Astro-Tourism Strategy. The Minister stated that '… science tourism involves experiences enjoyed when visiting scientific attractions such as scientific landmarks, including museums, laboratories, observatories, and higher educational institutions where research is conducted. It is also important to realise that astro-tourism is built around the traditions inherited from our ancestors by different ethnic cultures in observing the skies from time immemorial. Astro-tourism therefore draws heavily from the vast and untapped reservoirs of our indigenous knowledge systems. Astro-tourism also encompasses all offerings such as observatories, telescopes, museums, planetariums, meteorite sites, visitor centres, amateur astronomy clubs, stargazing, tour-guides, astro-routes, and accommodation establishments, etc.' In outlining the strategic importance of the Astro-Tourism Strategy, Minister Nzimande stated that 'We regard science and tourism as mutually reinforcing and therefore building on our competitive advantages in astronomy and tourism, we seek to use the Astro-Tourism Strategy to achieve the following: Enhance the performance of South Africa's astronomy tourism sector through infrastructure developments and improvements, optimal functioning of various streams of astronomy with tourism offerings and boosting transformation by enhancing the livelihoods of local communities; Position South Africa as a world class Astro tourism destination that will yield sustainable benefit-sharing opportunities by maximising appropriate investments, improving marketing efforts, and enhancing visitor experience in South Africa; Educate communities about the importance of preserving our dark skies and radio silence as this is a geographic advantage that needs to be protected for astrotourism to thrive; and Most importantly, we also seek to use this strategy to drive meaningful socio-economic development within poor and rural communities, through science tourism.' The Strategy is anchored on three pillars, which are: indigenous celestial narratives and human capacity development; infrastructure development; and inclusive tourism growth and partnerships – and requires an estimated budget of over R352 million. The implementation of the Astro-Tourism Strategy is the joint responsibility of the Departments of Science, Technology and Innovation and Tourism, which have established a Steering Committee that comprises officials from both departments, the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism. The DSTI's entity, the National Research Foundation (NRF) and its sub entities the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), also form part of this Steering Committee. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Department of Science and Innovation, Republic of South Africa.
