South African Large Telescope (SALT)
An 11-meter-aperture telescope –
the largest single telescope in the southern hemisphere. It is set on a
desolate plateau four hours drive from Cape Town, near the town of Sutherland.
SALT now dominates the Sutherland observing station of the South
African Astronomical Observatory, which has been the home of South Africa's
main observatories for more than half a century. The new telescope was inaugerated
in November 2005 and was financed by South Africa together with universities
and research bodies around the world, including Germany, Poland, the United
States, and New Zealand. Built using an array of 91 hexagonal mirrors, SALT
is similar to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in
Texas and is decided to work at longer wavelengths than most other optical
telescopes.
Related category
• OBSERVATORIES
AND TELESCOPES
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