South Africa is set to launch its first automated optical telescope on Friday, in the province of Northern Cape, the headquarters of the country's space exploration project. The multimillion MeerLICHT optical telescope could soon help unravel the mysteries of the universe, beginning with a closer look at the vast African skies.
Engineers say the MeerLICHT will offer astronomers an unprecedented view of the stars.
Optical telescopes work by detecting visible light in space, and this one will be used alongside a radio telescope (MeerKAT).
Together they will a give a real-time image the solar system at night.
MeerKAT conducts its investigations in the radio frequency spectrum, enabling scientists to examine the cosmos in greater detail than optical telescopes might allow.
"MeerKAT has a very large field of view and once MeerKAT starts science observations, we will be searching the entire field of view all the time for new transients," MeerLICHT principal investigator Professor Patrick Woudt told newsmen.
This latest development is part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project - which once completed will be the largest telescope in the world, the size of about 200 football fields.
The SKA will have antennas here in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia and is expected to change space exploration as we know it.
