‘Eyes and ears’ unique telescope launched in S Africa

SUTHERLAND: Scientists in South Africa on Friday launched the world’s first optical telescope linked to a radio telescope, combining “eyes and ears” to try to unravel the secrets of the universe.

The device forms part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project in the remote Karoo desert, which will be the world’s most powerful radio telescope system. The latest move combines the new optical telescope MeerLITCH — Dutch for ‘more light’ — with the recently-completed 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope, located 200 kilometres (125 miles) away. “We are listening and looking at the sky at the same time — that is a completely novel concept in astronomy worldwide,” Paul Groot, from Radboud university in the Netherlands, told AFP. “This is the eyes, with the MeerKAT being the ears as a radio telescope. It is fantastic to see what amazing views it produces.” Astronomers have previously had to wait for a cosmic incident to be picked up by a radio telescope and then carry out optic observations afterwards.

But combining MeerLITCH, in the small town of Sutherland, with MeerKAT, also in the sparsely-populated North Cape province, will allow simultaneous study of cosmic events as they occur.