First-light For Africa's Giant Eye: First Color Images From SALT

The sample images now releasedfor the first time were taken during the camera's first trial period ofoperation, which also achieved SALT's first significant scientificresults.

SALTICAM will be important to research by all thepartners involved in building SALT (National Research Foundation ofSouth Africa; Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the PolishAcademy of Sciences and a consortium of 3 Polish universities,comprising: Jagiellonian University, Nicolaus Copernicus University,and Adam Mickiewicz University; The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Board(representing Georg-August-Universität Göttingen,Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Stanford University, ThePennsylvania State University, and The University of Texas at Austin);Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (USA);Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany); The University ofWisconsin-Madison (USA); University of Canterbury (New Zealand);University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (USA); Dartmouth College(USA); Carnegie Mellon University (USA); United Kingdom SALT Consortium(UKSC), comprising: the Armagh Observatory, the University of Keele,the University of Central Lancashire, the University of Nottingham, theOpen University and the University of Southampton).

Five years ago, on the first day of southern hemisphere spring,a few hundred people gathered for the SALT ground-breaking ceremony. Ona windswept hilltop near the tiny Karoo town of Sutherland, home sincethe early 1970s to SAAO's research telescopes, dignitaries turned thefirst soil. Much has happened since that historic day, and SALT is nownearing completion.

A major recent milestone was the installation in May of thelast of the 91 hexagonal mirror segments that comprises SALT's mammothprimary mirror array, stretching 11 metres across. Another majormilestone, which we are marking today, is attaining "first light" withthe telescope's full array of mirrors and its new imaging camera,SALTICAM. The biggest milestone for 2005 will be the official openingof SALT on 10 November 2005 by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

An Icon for SciTech Development and Cooperation – Within Budget

"SALTwas an initiative of South African astronomers that won support fromthe South African government, not simply because it was a leap forwardin astronomical technology, but because of the host of spin-offbenefits it could bring to the country", said project scientist DavidBuckley. "Indeed the SALT project has become an iconic symbol for whatcan be achieved in Science and Technology in the new South Africa."SALT is not simply a South African project, however. It is aninternational partnership involving 11 different partners from 6countries on 4 continents – including Germany, Poland, New Zealand, theUK and the USA. A talented team of local engineers and scientists havesucceeded in building SALT on a rapid – for big telescope projects atleast – 5 year timescale. Not only that, but the cost of constructionhas been kept to within the original budget of $20 million defined in1998, even before the final designs were completed. According to KobusMeiring, project engineer, "This is due in part to the fact much of theoriginal design concept for SALT was modeled on the Hobby-EberlyTelescope in Texas, giving a useful starting point and allowing SALT'sengineers to make creative use of the 'lessons learned' with the onlyprevious telescope of this type."

Science Achieved and Progress to Come

Limited scientificobservations have already begun with SALT while completion of thetelescope's commissioning continues over the coming months. In the nextmonth or so, installation will begin of the major first generationinstrument, the Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph (designed and builtfor SALT by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Rutgers University)– which is to be renamed the Robert Stobie Spectrograph in honour ofthe past SAAO Director and Chairperson of the SALT Board, Dr Robert S.Stobie. It was Bob Stobie's dedication and enthusiasm that helpedlaunch, and later steer, the SALT project to success. His untimelydeath in May 2002 was felt by all his colleagues, and the renaming ofthis major instrument in his name is in recognition of his major rolein the SALT project.

The declaration of first light signifies that SALT has arrivedon the astronomical scene. There is still telescope and instrumentcommissioning to complete, as well as full optimisation of SALT and itssubsystems. This will continue for several months, after whichastronomers confidently expect that SALT and its instruments will meetor exceed all the original design goals. This process is already wellunder way with much achieved, and SALT is now in a very real sense anoperational telescope.

Astronomers within the SALT consortium keenly look forward tothe scientific fruits of what has been, until now, an extremelysuccessful engineering project. Already proposals for observations havebeen submitted and approved, and these observations are now beginningwith the imaging camera, SALTICAM. The same will be true for the RobertStobie Spectrograph, once it completes its commissioning tests inOctober. Like the SALT consortium itself, the science programmes to beconducted on SALT will be many and varied – from studies of the mostdistant and faint galaxies to observations of solar system objects likeasteroids and comets.

The Information Age Telescope

SALT is trulyrepresentative of the century in which it has been built, since notonly is it a sophisticated computer controlled precision instrument,but it is also an Internet-age telescope. No longer will it benecessary for astronomers in the consortium to travel to SALT to useit. Instead they will submit their observing requests over the Internetand eventually, once the observations have been conducted by thededicated SALT operations staff, they will also receive their data overthe Internet. In many respects this makes SALT far more like aspace-based telescope, like the Hubble Space Telescope, than its groundbased cousins. The operational model for SALT, with SAAO operating thetelescope on behalf of SALT's partners, will also be far closer to theway a telescope in orbit operates.

Bringing the Stars Home to Africa

But thescientific and engineering achievements of the SALT project would havefallen short of the vision that led the South African government (withstanding applause from every political party) to approve SALT, unlessit did more than provide a spectacular tool for southern African andoverseas scientists to explore the universe and extend human knowledge.

Already the benefits have been tangible, with the provision ofbursaries and scholarships to deserving South African students to studyboth in South Africa and abroad. These programmes have been directlysponsored by many of the partners in the SALT Foundation. A number ofscience education initiatives have also been catalysed by the project,and many more are foreseen. Financially South Africa has benefited bythe awarding of ~60% of the contracts and tenders to construct SALT toSouth African industry, while total South African funding was only ~34%of the total, meaning a net inflow of foreign exchange. Likewise, manyof the high tech aspects of the project were undertaken by SouthAfrican industry, including the precision robotic tracking system. Thishas meant the acquiring of skills previously not present or fullyrealized in the country.

Finally, SALT, like the science it will produce, has the giftof inspiring the imagination. Young visitors to SALT, and youthencountering SALT in the media or in the classroom, will know thatcutting-edge science can happen in southern Africa as well as in thefully developed world. Sparking interest in science in technology,pulling bright young minds into careers in science and technology, isthe real future benefit to South Africa.