What is the SALT telescope used for?
The SALT telescope collects light from astronomical objects and accurately focuses it onto the telescope focal plane. From there the light proceeds into an optical instrument while the telescope tracks the relative movement of the object across the sky to maximise exposure time.
What type of telescope is SALT?
optical telescope
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a 10-metre class optical telescope designed mainly for spectroscopy. It consists of 91 hexagonal mirror segments each with a 1-metre inscribed diameter, resulting in a total hexagonal mirror of 11.1 by 9.8 m.
How big is the SALT telescope?
11.1 by 9.8 metres
Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, with a mirror measuring 11.1 by 9.8 metres (36.4 by 32.2 feet).
Can you visit the SALT telescope?
And while the SALT facility is closed to the public at night, visitors can experience the thrill of astronomy by booking a stargazing session at the visitor centre where two dedicated visitor telescopes, a 16″ Meade and 14″ Celestron, are located.
What has the SALT Telescope discovered?
SUTHERLAND, South Africa (Reuters) – South Africa’s SALT telescope has helped detect the first white dwarf pulsar, the latest co-discovery that has astronomers eager to use the largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere to unlock the galaxy’s secrets.
Who built Salt telescope?
The South African government science agency
The South African government science agency built SALT with help from Germany, India, New Zealand, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The telescope took five years to build.
Who built SALT telescope?
Who invented the SALT telescope?
The Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) was designed and built for SALT by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Rutgers University. This instrument is the primary first-light instrument of SALT. RSS will exploit the improved blue/UV throughput of SALT as well as its access to a science field of 8 arcmin diameter.
How much did the SALT telescope cost?
$20 million
As large telescopes go, SALT was a bargain, costing just $20 million to build. But the same design features that kept its price down have led to its long-running complications.
Who built the SALT telescope?
What has the SALT telescope discovered?
Who built the Salt telescope?
Who invented the Salt telescope?
What is a SALT telescope?
Rutgers University is a partner in the Southern African Large Telescope consortium, SALT, a group of countries and universities that have jointly constructed a 10-meter optical telescope optimized for spectroscopic work that closely resembles the Hobby-Eberly Telescope(HET) at McDonald Observatory in west Texas.
What is the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere?
The Southern African Large Telescope. The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere and among the largest in the world. It has a hexagonal primary mirror array 11 metres across, comprising 91 individual 1m hexagonal mirrors.
Where is the largest telescope in South Africa?
The Southern African Large Telescope The largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere SALT is situated at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) field station near the small town of Sutherland, in the Northern Cape province, about 400 km from Cape Town.
What is the telescope pier for?
The telescope pier is a concrete ring on which the main structure of the telescope rests. It is the smoothest, flattest piece of concrete ever cast in South Africa, deviating by no more than 1 mm from a flat plane over its ~50 m circumference. The aluminising room is used when mirrors need to be re-coated.