Super telescope aims to inspire scientists

CARNARVON, South Africa: The sleepy South African town of Carnarvon has more churches than ATMs, but science is breathing new life into the far-flung farming centre.
The former 19th-century mission station is the closest town to a science and astronomy hub that is forming in the arid central Karoo region where the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) mega-telescope will be built.
“When we came here 20 years ago, Carnarvon was almost a ghost town,” said Gerrit Louw, who was the town’s first realtor and runs a website on the town.
Scientists now fly in on a weekly chartered flight. Property prices have shot up, the number of guesthouses has grown, and the pretty town of fewer than 6,000 people has made it onto television news weather maps.
Residents say it is too early to judge how much change the SKA will bring to Carnarvon, which last saw a boom in the 1950s on the back of a strong wool price.
“We must just give it another couple of months and then you will have the full impact,” said Nimrod Vass, owner of the Emzini Wakuti restaurant, whose name means “where we feel at home” in Zulu.
But his eatery has already seen a 70 percent increase in business as contractors, working on the remote site 80 kilometres (50 miles) away, flock in for hearty African fare.
“It is quite an injection. Business is just good all over, all over, for the whole town I can say,” he said.
Astronomy has even influenced local branding with a guesthouse and a restaurant named after the SKA’s precursor MeerKAT telescope.
“You can feel there is a different feel to the town,” said Breda van Niekerk, farmer and owner of De Meerkat restaurant and pizzeria.