<p><a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/11478.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.news.wisc.edu/11478.html</a></p>
<p>There are 11 partners in the SALT project...including Dartmouth, CMU, Rutgers, and others. Still, a great accomplishment.</p>
<p>UW is the lead university partner in the deal.</p>
<p>"Madison - For astronomers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and around the world, the stars just got a lot brighter.</p>
<p>The worlds largest optical telescope might solve the mystery of how the Lagoon Nebula, seen through the new scope, was formed. </p>
<p>Laboratory staff at UW install a rotating camera lens on a spectrograph they built for the SALT project. From left are instrument scientist Eric Burgh, assistant instrument innovator Michael Smith and professor Ken Nordsieck. </p>
<p>Quotable
Everything we learn about distant galaxies tells us something about our own galaxy and how we were formed. </p>
<ul>
<li>Amy Barger,
UW-Madison associate professor of astronomy</li>
</ul>
<p>The first stunning images from the world's largest optical telescope, which UW scientists played a major role in building, were released Thursday.</p>
<p>Perched atop a remote 5,000-foot plateau in South Africa, the $28 million device is expected to be a dominant player in the world of astronomy for at least a decade, a device that should reveal new clues about everything from the most distant galaxies to comets that streak through our own solar system.</p>
<p>"It will make a huge difference to Wisconsin astronomy and a major impact on world astronomy," said John Mathis, an emeritus professor of astronomy at UW. "It will allow us to do research on objects that are too faint for other telescopes."</p>
<p>Known as the Southern African Large Telescope, or SALT, the device is made up of 91 hexagonal mirror segments. It is 11 meters across at its widest. At 10 meters in diameter each, the two W.M. Keck Observatory telescopes in Hawaii had been the largest optical telescopes in the world.</p>
<p>SALT is located about 220 miles from Cape Town near the Kalahari Desert in one of the "darkest" regions of the world with no nearby cities or other sources of light pollution. </p>
<p>Astronomers say it will provide an unprecedented view of the Southern Hemisphere sky. Its rotating design will allow it to peer into three-quarters of the visible sky. </p>
<p>An 11-member consortium that includes UW, the South African government and Rutgers University financed and built SALT. UW's contribution, second only to the South African government, is $5 million.</p>
<p>The chair of the SALT board is not from UW....nor are any of the board members from what I can see......still, if you say UW is the "lead" partner, I guess I'll trust you ;)</p>
<p>"UW's contribution, second only to the South African government, is $5 million."</p>