New View of the Night Sky

By ⋅ May 24, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
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Southern African Large Telescope

In the Geo Quiz, we’re looking for a town that has a reputation as one of coldest places in South Africa. That means it gets snow in July, a downside for some.

But its location in a vast desert called the Great Karoo makes it a perfect place to view the night sky. It’s remote and away from city lights. That’s why the Southern African Large Telescope, nicknamed SALT, is there. It’s the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. So, name this town located in the Northern Cape province if you can…

The answer is the town of Sutherland in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It’s just one of many vantage points for Seattle-based photographer, Nick Risinger, who traveled the world to create the first and largest-ever, true-color, 360 degree panorama of the night sky. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with him.

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360 panoramic image of the Milky Way Galaxy (Image: Photopic Sky Survey)


Interactive Feature: Milky Way Panorama

Nick Risinger preparing the cameras for a night of shooting in Colorado (Photo: Photopic Sky Survey)


Discussion

2 comments for “New View of the Night Sky”

  • Anonymous

    While listening to the commentator tonight about SALT, I thought she mentioned that is was one of the coldest places on earth and “they have snow in July”.   She said it as if this was highly unusual.  Am I missing something here?  Isn’t July considered a winter month in the Southern Hemisphere?  Shouldn’t they have snow in July?

  • Anonymous

    While listening to the commentator discussing SALT tonight, she mentioned that it was located in one of the coldest places on earth in the Southern Hemisphere and there was snow there even in July (as if this was unusual).  Is it just me, but isn’t July a winter month in the Southern Hemisphere?  Shouldn’t they have snow there at that time?  Did I hear that wrong?