Timelapse From Inside a Telescope

By Nancy Atkinson - November 26, 2012 at 9:37 PM UTC | Telescopes

This timelapse is different than most because it allows you to see the actions of the South African Large Telescope (SALT) from a unique point of view: the camera is mounted on the mirror structure, but also visible is the awesome field of view. Dr. Bruno Letarte compiled this video from 3 consecutive nights observing in July 2012 showing SALT in action. He also provides a tour of the inside of the telescope as well.

Additionally, Letarte provides detailed info of what is being observed, what scientist or team is doing the observing, and additional details of what is actually happening. If you want a more traditional timelapse of the night sky, see below for Letarte's Volume I of this pair of videos. It shows a stunningly beautiful look at the southern sky, and points out several of the constellations and other objects that are visible.

SALT is located near the town of Sutherland, South Africa, about 380 km from Cape Town. The telescope has been fully operational for over a year now, and is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere and among the largest in the world. It has a hexagonal primary mirror array 11 meters across, made of 91 individual 1.2m hexagonal mirrors. It is very similar to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas, but SALT has a redesigned optical system resulting in a larger field of view and effective collecting area.

Thanks to Bruno Letarte for sharing his videos with Universe Today.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com