Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Nov 7, 2005 21:23:46 GMT -6
Largest Optical Telescope in Southern Hemisphere To Be Inaugurated in South Africa
Monday, November 7, 2005
VIENNA, 7 November (UN Information Service) -- The largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere will be inaugurated on 11 November at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Sutherland, South Africa, by the President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki. The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) can gather more than 25 times as much light as any existing telescope in Africa, enabling it to detect a candle flame as far away as the moon.
SALT is a follow-up project of the Basic Space Science workshops organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) and the European Space Agency, within the framework of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications. Over the past 12 years, the SALT project was further promoted by the United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative through the dissemination of information to the international basic space science community and through the technical advisory services that the Initiative provides to Member States.
More here: www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18204
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