56 | New Scientist | 1 June 2019
The back pages Me and my telescope
Tana Joseph wanted to be an astronomer as soon
as she saw images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Originally from South Africa, she now studies binary
stars at the University of Manchester, UKFirst up, do you have a telescope?
No, I don’t. I don’t do optical astronomy, so
stargazing isn’t something I am particularly
interested in. A bit strange for an
astronomer, I know!As a child, what did you
want to do when you grew up?
I was always interested in science and how the
world worked. I decided that I wanted to be an
astronomer at age 11, when the big newspaper in
Cape Town began to print images from the
Hubble Space Telescope on the front page. My
father always saved the paper for me if there was a
Hubble picture. I couldn’t believe that these
beautiful pictures were used to do science.Explain what you do
in one easy paragraph.
I study star systems that consist of a black
hole or neutron star and a normal star. These
double stars emit different types of light, like
X-rays and radio waves. I use telescopes on
the ground and in space to look at this light.
It can tell us about how these objects – as well
as galaxies and even planets – form,
change and grow.What does a typical day involve?
First, I find out what is new with my Australian
and US collaborators and catch up on the latest
papers. Then, I get stuck into my research. I am
working on two articles: one about a nearby
galaxy and another about a black hole
50 million light years away.What do you love most about what you do,
and what’s the worst part?
I love working in teams and seeing how we all
contribute to advancing scientific knowledge
about the universe. The worst part is when I or my
friends move away for work. This happens often
in academia and you don’t always know when
you’ll see your friends again.Sum up your life in a one-sentence
elevator pitch...
I’m living proof that, with the right support, even
the most unlikely person can achieve
something awesome.If you could send a message back to
yourself as a kid, what would you say?
It is going to seem hard at times, but you made
a great career choice, so keep going.What’s the best piece of
advice anyone ever gave you?
I once told my PhD supervisor that I was “working
smarter, not harder”. He told me that was a quote
from the TV show DuckTales, said by Scrooge
McDuck to his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie.
He approved and it has been my motto ever since.What’s the most exciting thing
you are working on right now?
I have just been notified that I will be receiving
data from a newly built radio telescope in
South Africa, called MeerKAT. It is the best radio
telescope in the southern hemisphere. I have
been waiting for this moment since 2006. Now,
MeerKAT and I are finally ready to start doing
science together and it is going to be fantastic.What’s the best thing you’ve read or seen
in the past 12 months?
It has to be the image of the black hole event
horizon taken by the Event Horizon Telescope.How useful will your skills
be after the apocalypse?
It depends on the type of apocalypse. If we require
technical skills, like making computers or other
such systems, then I could be quite useful.OK, one last thing: tell us something
that will blow our minds...
In 1604, light from an exploding supernova
20,000 light years away reached Earth. It was
visible during the day for weeks. Records from
Korea, China, Arabia and Europe all mention
this “new star”. I can’t imagine how cool it would
be to look up in the daytime and see a new feature
in the sky. ❚Tana Joseph is founder of AstroComms
and will be speaking at New Scientist Live,
on astronomy in Africa, 10 to 13 October“ My father
always saved
me newspapers
that printed
images from the
Hubble Space
Telescope”
SKA SOUTH AFRICA