Astronomy in Africa- News and Updates

East African Rift Valley, as seen from space Credit: NASA

• Crew members aboard Expedition 30 of the International Space Station took this photo of the East African Rift Valley in Kenya, located near its border with Tanzania. In this image, you can see numerous linear fault lines that occupy the floor of the valley; the rift was formed by a fracturing of Earth’s crust. Shadows cast by the late afternoon sun make the fault scarps (steps in the landscape caused by slip motion along individual faults) more prominent. The rift is also home to numerous active and dormant volcanoes.

• This month, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, the South-African National Research Foundation, and IBM signed a memorandum of understanding on joint research into advanced ICT (information and communication technologies) targeted at radio astronomy. Jasper Horrell, the South African leader on the project: “This collaboration fits very well in the ambitions of South-Africa to strengthen our international networks and intensify our collaboration with industry.”