Nicolas Erasmus i
SUTHERLAND
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The ‘first light’ image taken with ATLAS on Monday, 13 December 2021.
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SUTHERLAND: THE NEWEST TELESCOPE By: Nadine Sims
The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) is the
The Sutherland location was not chosen only due to its very
newest edition on the Sutherland plateau and the telescope saw
dark skies and ideal weather, it was also perfect because the
first light on 13 December 2021. The NASA-funded ATLAS project
Hawaiian and the Sutherland Observatory have a convenient
consists of four telescopes, two in the Northern Hemisphere, in
12-hour time difference. Both the Sutherland and El Sauce
Hawaii, and two in the Southern Hemisphere, in Chile and
Observatory are in the southern Hemisphere which means that
South Africa.
together with the two existing northern Hemisphere Hawaiian telescopes the entire sky (north and south) can be observed
Astronomer and Instrument Scientist Dr Nicolas Erasmus is at the
24-hours a day.
helm of it and led the construction in South Africa. In October 2021 all the components arrived, but due to Covid-19
Koorts explained that the telescope has a 110 megapixel CCD
restrictions the US team was not able to be onsite. With the help
camera and is capable of detecting a match flame in New York
of Willie Koorts, also from SAAO, the two tightened almost every
city, viewed from San Francisco (+- 4500km). The telescope
screw and bolt on the dome structure and the telescope that
captures four images, each about 15–20 minutes apart and
led to its successful installation. A testament to local skills and
then compares those images to images taken on a different
expertise at the SAAO.
night. Any source in the four images that has moved relative
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African Science Stars Issue 3 | www.assap.co.za
