In UW-Madison's Space Astronomy Laboratory, staff including, left to right, instrument scientist Eric Burgh, assistant instrument innovator Michael Smith and professor Ken Nordsieck, use a hoist to install a rotating camera lens weighing nearly 150 pounds onto a rail on the Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph. The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Astronomy, together with Rutgers University and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SALT), is building an Imaging Spectrograph for the Prime Focus Instrument Package of the SALT telescope. Photo date: October 2004 Image credit: Jeff Miller

The South African Large Telescope (SALT), nears completion near Sutherland, South Africa. A collaborative project of the UW-Madison astronomy department and an international partnership of observatories and research universities, SALT will be the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. When completed, the geodesic mirror-support truss at center will hold 91 meter-wide mirror segments, creating an 10-meter wide mirror; the first two segments are visible at center. The dome roof rotates for viewing, with an 11-meter hexagonal openable panel. Photo date: May 2003 Image credit: Matthew Bershady/UW-Madison Astronomy Department

The South African Large Telescope (SALT), nears completion near Sutherland, South Africa. A collaborative project of the UW-Madison astronomy department and an international partnership of observatories and research universities, SALT will be the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. The calibration tower (left) contains an interferometer for alignment of 91 panels of the 10-meter-wide segmented mirror. The dome roof rotates for viewing, and has an 11-meter hexagonal openable panel. Photo date: 2003 Image credit: courtesy SALT Project Team

The South African Large Telescope (SALT), nears completion near Sutherland, South Africa. A collaborative project of the UW-Madison astronomy department and an international partnership of observatories and research universities, SALT will be the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. The first 7 mirror segments installed into the geodesic mirror truss reflect the upper ring of the telescope building interior. When completed, the truss will hold 91 meter-wide mirror segments, creating an 10-meter wide mirror. Photo date: May 2003 Image credit: Jian Swiegers, SALT Project Team

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