- This event has passed.
NRF|SAAO Cape Town Open Night
January 24 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Join us for Open Nights at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town, held on the second and fourth Saturday of every month. (NOTE: Open Nights for January 2026 are scheduled for the 3rd and 4th Saturdays of the month)
Each evening begins with an engaging presentation on astronomy or a related field of science, followed by a guided tour of the Observatory’s rich history—including our library, museum, and the historic 120-year-old McClean Telescope.
Weather permitting, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy stargazing through the McClean and additional smaller telescopes.
-
- Gates open at 7:30 PM.
- Free entry for children aged 6 and under.
Please email cptbookings@saao.ac.za or call +27 21 447 0025 if you have any queries regarding bookings.
Speaker: Prof. Rosalind Skelton (MD NRF|SAAO)
Title: An overview of the South African Astronomical Observatory
Abstract: Prof Skelton will introduce the South African Astronomical Observatory and its work, covering the key aims of the observatory and its telescopes, some of which are locally owned and others hosted in partnership with or on behalf of international partners. She will describe the science supported by SAAO, technological development, student programmes and science engagement and share some exciting recent results coming from SALT and our other telescopes.
Bio: Prof. Rosalind Skelton has recently been appointed as the Managing Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory (NRF|SAAO). She did her PhD on galaxy evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (University of Heidelberg, Germany) in 2010, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University in the USA. She returned to South Africa for a postdoc at the SAAO in 2013 and became a member of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) astronomy team at the SAAO in 2016. She has close ties with the University of Cape Town, where she supervises a number of students researching how galaxies are affected by their environments. She was appointed as SAAO’s Head of Research in 2023 and then as Director from December 2024