Giant Eye to shed light on the secrets of the universe

Students at The University of Nottingham will be able to stargaze at distant galaxies to learn more about the origins of life, thanks to a giant, state-of-the-art telescope being unveiled more than 6,000 miles away.


The Nottingham chemistry and physics students will be able to use the internet to access images captured by the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) — dubbed Africa’s Giant Eye — without having to visit its site at Sutherland, 400 km north of Cape Town, in South Africa.

The gigantic telescope — the biggest of its kind in the southern hemisphere — will be launched today by South African President Thabo Mbeki at a ceremony that will also be attended by The University of Nottingham’s Professor Don Grierson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Transfer, and Professor Peter Sarre, Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Astrophysics in the University’s School of Chemistry.

Professor Grierson said: “The University is delighted to be part of this exciting new venture that promises to help unlock the secrets of our universe. SALT will be a wonderful inspiration and research tool for students worldwide.

“SALT is a truly international achievement with partners from across the globe. Our participation further strengthens Nottingham’s position as a world-class, research-led university.”

The £11 million project is an international partnership backed by six different countries including a UK consortium consisting of The University of Nottingham, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Keele and Southampton universities, the Open University and Armagh Observatory.

Limited scientific observations have already begun while completion of the telescope’s commissioning continues over the coming months. In the near future, installation will begin on the Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph, which will allow astronomers to dissect and then analyse the dim light of distant stars and galaxies in dozens of different ways, some of them not available on any other large telescope.

SALT science programmes will include studies of the most distant and faint galaxies to observations of asteroids and comets in our own solar system.

At Nottingham, students will use the telescope to study how stars and galaxies form, to detect planets around other stars and to learn about the chemicals in space that may form the basis of life.

Professor Gordon Bromage, Chairman of the UK SALT Consortium and Head of Astrophysics at UCLan said: “SALT is a hugely significant project, incorporating innovative designs and magnificent engineering. It will provide astronomers with a window into the realms of planets around other stars and the origins of galaxies, which will surely lead to many exciting discoveries.

“This is particularly true given telescopes of this size and power are needed in both hemispheres to get an accurate picture of stars and galaxies. For example, one can only see our two nearest galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds, from the southern hemisphere.”

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