The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere, with a hexagonal mirror array 11 metres across. Although very similar to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas, SALT has a redesigned optical system using more of the mirror array. It will be able to record distant stars, galaxies and quasars a billion times too faint to be seen with the unaided eye - as faint as a candle flame at the distance of the moon.
SALT is closely modelled on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) situated in west Texas. However, almost every subsystem has been redesigned using the lessons learned from HET. Two of the most notable changes are a redesigned reflective spherical aberration corrector (SAC) and an active primary mirror alignment system utilizing capacitive edge sensors to measure primary mirror segment movement. The SAC has an 8 arcmin diameter field of view (four times the area available with HET), improved image quality (EE50<0.2 arcsec), and multi-layer Ag/Al coatings on the four mirrors which enhances the sensitivity at short wavelengths (capable down to 320 nm).
An efficient low to medium resolution imaging spectrograph operating from about 320 nm to 900 nm
The optics are designed to allow observations from 900 nm to 320 nm (the UV atmospheric cutoff).
A single-object echelle spectrograph fed by a pair of 300-500 micron (1.3-2.2 arcsec on the sky) diameter optical fibers.
