The largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere was inaugurated by President Thabo Mbeki in the Northern Cape city of Sutherland.

Since South Africa was the cradle of humanity it seemed right that the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) which was built to probe the formation of the universe should be based in the country, said Mbeki.

"This observatory is a place dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Its sole purpose is the discovery of the unknown and therefore the further liberation of humanity from blind action informed by superstition that derives from failure to fathom the regularities and imperative of the infinite natural world," Mbeki said.

He hoped the daily voyages of discovery into outer space would help all people around the world to "repudiate a fear of knowledge".

The telescope, costing about R200 million, was built over five years in collaboration with the United Kingdom, United States, Poland, New Zealand and Germany. Meanwhile, Sutherland residents said they could already see the economic benefits of the telescope, although unemployment remained high at almost 70%.

In the past two years, the town's population has grown by 600% with an influx of visitors and a property price boom. Municipal manager Aletta van Sittert said Sutherland only had 142 beds for tourists and sorely needed more.

The Karoo Hoogland Municipality was trying its best to ensure that residents of the impoverished town, as well as neighbouring communities, would also benefit. Van Sittert announced plans to kickstart a scientific tourism route called "walking with ancestors" which would connect the towns of Sutherland, Williston and Fraserburg and hopefully draw traffic from the Garden Route and N1 to Beaufort West.

She said it was clear that SALT would not create jobs in the local community, but that an environment conducive to growth could be created around the observatory.

Referring to plans for a golf estate, Deputy Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom said it was important to find a balance so that neither the astronomical potential of the area nor the community would suffer.

SALT, also known as Africa's giant eye, is powerful enough to record distant stars and galaxies which are a billion times too faint to see with the eye. Scientists say the finest details observed by SALT may be as small as a R2 coin, 10km away.

The countries involved in the building of the SALT project will be given time to use the telescope according to their shares in the building. SA owns 35% of the shares. Astronomers from around the world won't have to travel to the Karoo to use SALT but will be able to send observation requests via the internet to Sutherland. Astronomers will then provide them with the information electronically.

(Source: Cape Argus 11 Nov 2005)