A visit to the SAAO’s Sutherland facility in the Karoo is something that everyone should aim to do at least once in their lives. Whether you visit in the summer, when heat mirages shimmer in the distance and blend the earth and the sky together, or in the winter when temperatures plummet and the ground crunches underfoot, you will not be disappointed by the unspoilt splendour of the Karoo.

Here, SAAO’s major telescopes operate in some of the world’s best conditions for astronomy, on a hilltop 1 800 metres above sea level, near the small town of Sutherland. The site was chosen for its year-round clear skies, semi-arid setting, and absence of light and other pollution.

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere, and one of the largest in the world. Located and operated at SAAO outside Sutherland, it has an 11m wide hexagonal primary mirror array, comprising 91 individual 1m hexagonal mirrors. Although very similar to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas, SALT has a redesigned optical system resulting in a larger field of view and effective collecting area.

The 1.0m telescope was built by Grubb Parsons in 1964, and originally stood in the Observatory grounds in Cape Town. It was upgraded when SAAO moved the telescope to Sutherland.

SAAO’s newest telescope, Lesedi was installed in 2017 and is currently being commissioned for use by the local and international astronomical community. This 1-metre telescope was named Lesedi – meaning light or enlightenment in Sesotho – a name selected from competition entries submitted by South African high school learners. The telescope functions in the visible and ultraviolet wavelengths and boasts a custom-made wide-field camera.

The oldest operational telescope found at the SAAO’s Sutherland facilities, the 1.9m telescope was built by Grubb Parsons in 1938-48 for the Radcliffe Observatory in Pretoria. It was bought by the South African government in 1974 and transported to the Karoo, where it continues functioning to this day.

If you’d like to visit and see what SAAO researchers do, we invite you to book a tour below. Please note that we can only accommodate you if you have booked a visit – no unscheduled tours are permitted.

Please email suthbookings@saao.ac.za or phone 076 900 0308 if you have any queries regarding bookings and tours for Sutherland.