Four European astronomers land at the Cape to find a southern sky
6 November 1955 · regional · Prince Albert
G. Courtes of France, J. Dommangel of Belgium, H. Elsasser of Germany and Ch. E. Heynekamp of the Netherlands, off the Zuiderkruis after sailing in October. The plan was made at Leiden on 26 January 1954 by astronomers of six countries. Britain withdrew in October 1956 for a Commonwealth telescope in Australia. South Africa was the default, but the existing observatories all sat near cities and ESO wanted its own dark ground. The search came down to two places: the Nuweveld plateau north-west of Beaufort West, and ZEEKOEGAT.
Sources
Told in
- subject The French Observatory