Rotary Table Bearings Keep Telescope on Rrack

The largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere will soon be available for stargazing with the assistance of INA rotary table bearings and products. The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is located in the Karoo desert in South Africa and will give its operators a glimpse into the history of the universe at a cost of US $30 million. The telescope will be used to collect the light that was emitted by stars and galaxies almost 14 million years ago. SALT's design features allow the telescope to remain in the one position rather than having to compensate for the earth's rotation.The telescope's reflector unit, measuring 11m in diameter and consisting of aluminium coated mirrors that can be individually aligned, is supported by an INA rotary table bearing.INA also specially designed six telescopic struts and supplied cardanic joints to support the four and a half tonne telescope tracker, which receives the bundled signal.A support roller combination which includes 58 INA stud type track rollers, guides the rotatable cupola. INA's Head of Technical Market Development for Asia, South Africa and Australia, Andreas Pieper said the telescope is a billion times more powerful than the human eye.'The telescope can, in principle, detect the light of a burning candle on the moon', he said. As the USA considers the construction of eight similar telescopes, Pieper said SALT was INA's first order for such a telescope and its products had been reported to be a success. 'The operators of SALT confirmed to us that our bearings have passed all the tests and are running to their complete satisfaction', he said.