Twinkle twinkle

Around a month ago we decided to drive off to Sutherland and see what happens there. SALT, the Southern African Largest Telescope, is the biggest in the world, the same size as it’s Texan sister. We did a little tour of the telescope and observatory. What we never realised was that there are something like 15 telescopes, owned by different countries, that have their home up on a hill, outside a tiny karoo town. Even SALT is owned by a number of different countries, with South Africa only having put forward 30% of the cash. It seems though that only South Africans have the required intelligence to operate the telescope. The other countries involved request things they want observed or measured and get allocated times but none of their astro-physicists are allowed to use it.

We spent the weekend at a rustic little cottage in town, cooking our own food and having a glass of wine or 2 on the stoep every evening. The town itself is unbelievably quiet and we found ourselves wandering around outside looking for people every now and then. The busiest person in town is a chap named Jurg. He can organise absolutely everything, except weapons or recreational drugs. We spent 2 hours with him learning and looking at a few of his favourite things in the sky. We went exploring on our second afternoon and drove off to summit of the Ouberg Pass, which overlooks a vast expanse on nothing that becomes the Ceres Valley. If I was an apple that’s where I’d want to live.