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ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
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South
African Astronomical Observatory (S.A.A.O.)
Initially
known as Combined South African Observatories. (CSAO)
1968 - present
Note: The headquarters is situated in the premises of the old Royal
Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope,
whilst the most important instruments are housed at Sutherland.
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Photo Gallery:
Head
Office Building.
Head Office Terrain.
Sutherland Domes.
Sutherland
Terrain.
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Current
Information:
Director: Philip A. Charles.
Telephone no.: [+2721] (021) 447 0025
Fax no.: [+2721] (021) 447 3639
P.R.O. e-mail:
Website: http://www.saao.ac.za
Physical
address:
Head Office:
SAAO, Observatory Road, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa.
Sutherland:
Postal address: SAAO, P.O. Box 9 Observatory Cape Town 7935
South Africa
Location:
SAAO - Cape Town:
Latitude:33degrees 56' 03.5" South
Longitude: 1h 13m 54.6s East
SAAO - Sutherland:
Latitude:33degrees 56' 03.5" South
Longitude:1h 13m 54.6s East
Altitude:1 750 m above sea level (5 741 ft)
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Noted
for:
Summary:
Light pollution is an International problem, and in the 1960's
three of South Africa's Observatories were badly affected by light pollution.
They were the Cape
Observatory
(Cape Town), Radcliffe
Observatory
(Pretoria) and Republic
Observatory
(Johannesburg). By an agreement between the South African CSIR and the
British Science Research Council (23 September 1970), a new facility
was created away from light pollution at Sutherland in the Karoo. The
main instruments from the Cape and Republic Observatories were moved
to the new sight, and the Cape Observatory grounds became the headquarters
for the new South African Observatories (today the South African Astronomical
Observatory S.A.A.O.)
Radcliffe Observatory closed down, and its 74-inch telescope was bought
and moved to Sutherland.
Thus the original Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope metamorphed
into a new entity, the S.A.A.O., which for reasons of convenience
and space will be dealt with in this website as a separate establishment.
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History:
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Due to growing light pollution problems in the major cities,
good seeing conditions became a major problem for South Africa's
Astronomical Observatories. The logical step for the time was
to amalgamate the major Observatories into one, and move the instruments
to a dark site away from the major cities. [S.A.A.O.,
pp. 2 - 4.]
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The idea to create a joint venture was first suggested in 1968,
with the consequent sharing in cost. The main players in the joint
venture were the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR); and the Science Research Council of Great
Britain (SRC). [S.A.A.O.,
pp. 2 - 4.]
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An agreement was reached in 1970 to develop a joint
South African - British Observatory. It was decided to close
down the Royal Observatory in Cape Town, and the Republic
Observatory in Johannesburg, and amalgamate the two Observatories.
[S.A.A.O.,
pp. 2 - 4.]
- Sutherland
in the Karoo was chosen as the site for the new venture after an
extensive site-testing programme. South Africa has two areas
that are extremely good for astronomical studies, namely the Karoo
and the Highveld. However, South Africa has two major climatic
regions, with the Karoo affected by winter rainfall and the
Highveld by summer rainfall. This means that each one of these areas
is good during its dry season, but certain stars will be difficult
to study because of the wet season. The site-testing programme narrowed
the favourable sites down to a narrow strip of the south - western
Karoo, which have an excellent number of clear hours distributed
throughout the whole year. [S.A.A.O.,
p.4.]
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In 1972 it was decided to close Radcliffe Observatory
(Pretoria). This facility had only one telescope, the 74 inch
that was at the time the largest telescope in South Africa.
In 1974 this telescope was moved to Sutherland. [Moore,
p.119.]
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In 1972 the South African Astronomical Observatory was founded.
(Officially?) [Smits]
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The site at Sutherland was officially opened in March 1973,
by Mrs Margaret Thatcher, then Minister of Science in the
U.K., and Mr B.J. Vorster, Prime Minister of South Africa.
[Smits]
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Besides the telescope domes, there are also offices, a technical
building, library, staff residences, and a 14 bedroom hostel for
visiting Astronomers.
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On 15 November 2000 the Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF)
was opened. This is a joint project between S.A.A.O. and Nagoya
University, Japan. The telescope is a specially constructed 1.4-m
telescope fitted with the SIRIUS camera.
- South
African Large Telescope
(S.A.L.T). The largest telescope in South Africa with an 11-m
mirror. The telescope is a joint venture between;
S.A.A.O., South Africa
Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre in Poland
Hobby-Eberley telescope board, USA
Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA
Georg-August Universitat, Germany
University of Wisconson-Madison, USA
Carnegi-Mellon University, USA
New Zealand University of Canterbury
University of North Carolina, USA
UK / Irish Consortium
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The facilities created at Sutherland have proved useful for other
sciences as well. A tunnel was built for seismological observations
by the Geological Survey. [S.A.A.O.,
p.4.]
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List
of Directors at S.A.A.O.:
- Richard
van der Riet Woolley.
1971 - 1974. He became the first Director. Sir Richard was Astronomer
Royale of Britain, and took over the post on retirement from
Greenwich.
- Michael
Feast:
1974 - 1992. He joined S.A.A.O. from Radcliffe
- Bob
Stobie:
1992 - 2002. He was previously deputy Director of the Royal
Observatory in Edinburgh. Stobie was the great drive behind
the S.A.L.T. project until his untimely death in 2002.
- Patricia
Whitelock
was acting director during 2002 - 2003
- P.A.
Charles:
2004 - Current.
Deputy
at S.A.A.O.:
- George
Harding:
Mr Harding was not a Director, but "officer in charge"
of the Cape Observatory during the change over period from
Cape Observatory to Combined South African Observatories (S.A.A.O.).
He became deputy of S.A.A.O. under van der Riet Woolley
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Research/public
service
- Photometric
astronomy:
which consist of photoelectric observations, electronography and
photographic photometry. [S.A.A.O.,
pp.4 - 8]
- Spectroscopy.
-
Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF)
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Note:
Existing instruments that were taken over used to be referred to by
their names e.g. Elizabeth telescope, or by their diameter in
inches, eg. 40 inch telescope. A few years prior to the creation
of S.A.A.O. South Africa converted to the decimal system. In documentation
from this era onwards the telescopes are referred to by their diameter
in the decimal system, e.g. 100-cm telescope. All the above examples
refer to the same instrument.
Instruments
at Sutherland:
Instruments
at Observatory, Cape Town:
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Pictorial
Sources:
Bibliography:
- Laing,
J.D. (ed.), The Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope, 1820
- 1970, A Sesquicentennial Offering, Published by The Royal Observatory,
Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town), 1970. [Note: The British Science
Research Council threaten to close the observatory down. This
publication was written as a Public Relations exercise to
show the world the value of the institution. It was never intended
to be a historical document.]
- Moore,
P. & Collins, P., Astronomy in Southern Africa, p (General Source)
- The
South African Astronomical Observatory.
(Publication of SAAO, no author, no date
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