Radcliffe Observatory, Pretoria

South African Astronomical Observatory

The Sutherland site of the South African Astronomical Observatory. With the Southern African Large Telescope.
Organization	National Research Foundation of South Africa
Observatory code	51, B31, A60
Location	Headquarters in Observatory, Cape Town Major telescopes in Sutherland, Northern Cape
Coordinates	Headquarters: 33°56′05″S 18°28′39″E / 33.9347°S 18.4776°E / -33.9347; 18.4776Coordinates: 33°56′05″S 18°28′39″E / 33.9347°S 18.4776°E / -33.9347; 18.4776 Sutherland: 32°22′42″S 20°48′38″E / 32.3783°S 20.8105°E / -32.3783; 20.8105
Established	January 1972
Website	www.saao.ac.za
Telescopes
SALT 11m reflector 1.9m 1.9m reflector Infrared Survey Facility 1.4m reflector MONET 1.2m reflector 1.0m 1m reflector SuperWASP-South 8x Canon 200mm f/1.8 ACT 75cm reflector Solaris-1 0.5m f/15 Ritchey–Chrétien Solaris-1 0.5m f/15 Ritchey–Chrétien
Location of South African Astronomical Observatory
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External image

Photos of the dome of the Victoria telescope from the University of Cambridge

South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is the national centre for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa. It was established in 1972. The observatory is run by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The facility's function is to conduct research in astronomy and astrophysics. The primary telescopes are located in Sutherland, which is 370 kilometres (230 mi) from Observatory, Cape Town, where the headquarters is located.

The SAAO has links worldwide for scientific and technological collaboration. Instrumental contributions from the South African Astronomical Observatory include the development of a spherical aberration corrector and the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT).

The Noon Gun on Cape Town's Signal Hill is fired remotely by a time signal from the Observatory.

The history of the SAAO began when the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope was founded in 1820, the first scientific institution in Africa. Construction of the main buildings was completed in 1829 at a cost of £30,000 (equivalent to £2.4 million in 2017). The post of Her Majesty's astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope was awarded the Royal Medal on two occasions; the first to Thomas Maclear in 1869 for measurement of an arc of the meridian at the Cape of Good Hope and the second to David Gill in 1903 for researches in solar and stellar parallax, and his energetic direction of the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope.

The Republic Observatory, Johannesburg, was merged with the much older Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope in January 1972 to form the South African Astronomical Observatory. In 1974 the Radcliffe Observatory telescope was purchased by the CSIR and moved to Sutherland, where it recommenced work in 1976.