As the last rays of sunlight slip behind the scrub-covered hills of Sutherland, South Africa, electric motors whir to life inside a small building. Slowly, the domed roof of the building slides back, revealing an odd-looking device. Mounted on a short pedestal, a black camera lens protrudes from a squat blue box. Two computer cables trail to the floor. The entire assembly stands less than 5 feet tall.
Though its creators officially refer to it as a telescope, most people would label the device as a camera. The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT-South) received its name due to its wide angle of view, comparably small size, and careful watch of the southern skies. In a field of astronomy dominated by bus-sized telescopes capable of viewing only a tiny slice of the sky at any moment, KELT is a bit of an oddity. Yet, just like many of its impressively-sized cousins, KELT turns its single eye to the sky each night with a bold purpose: the discovery of new worlds.
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