MeerLICHT

During the months of October and November 2017, a number of MeerLICHT scientists used the telescope for commissioning observations, to assess the image quality and the depth achieved in a 1 minute exposure in all filters.

Rik ter Horst (ASTRON) spent one week in Sutherland to test the optics of MeerLICHT with on-sky observations and to align the primary mirror of MeerLICHT to perfection.

The MeerLICHT telescope was lifted into its dome on 7 July 2017. This marks the start of the installation of MeerLICHT at the Sutherland station of the South African Astronomy Observatory.

On 1 July 2017, the MeerLICHT telescope arrived in South Africa. Here you see the telescope all boxed up at Cape Town international airport before it is transported to the Sutherland station of the South African Astronomical Observatory.

On Monday 30 January 2017, the MeerLICHT telescope and counterweight were lifted into the observatory dome of the Radboud University, where the telescope and counterweight were connected to the telescope mount.

Work on the cooled counterweight of MeerLICHT is progressing very well at Radboud University in Nijmegen. The MeerLICHT electronics will be housed in the counterweight of the telescope where excess heat will be removed through a water cooling system.

The MeerLICHT telescope mount – produced by FORNAX in Hungary – has arrived in Nijmegen and was lifted into one of the observatory domes on 3 October 2016 for extensive testing, and integration with the MeerLICHT telescope.

MeerLICHT achieved first light at ASTRON on 14 September 2016.