South African Large Telescope (SALT)

On a deserted hill near Sutherland, far form city lights and pollution, South Africa's strongest single telescope is currently under construction. When completed, the telescope will be strong enough so that it will observe a single candle light on the moon! It has a diameter of 11 meters which contain 91 mirrors. 

South Africa and its international partners have joined forces to build the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere, with a hexagonal array 11 meters across, sensitive enough to dectect the light of a single candle on the moon. With its giant mirror, the SALT will be able to record  the scale and age of the universe, distant stars, galaxies and quasars a billion times too faint to seen with the unaided eye. The total telescope cost will be approximately US$30 million, of which South Africa contributed a third and the balance was provided by international partners.

Observatory (above) 18 km out of Sutherland 

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