turning north from the n1 between touws river and beaufort west, at matjiesfontein, the road ascends the great escarpment through the verlatenkloof pass to reach sutherland, at 1456 m above sea level, which is reputedly the coldest town in south africa with average minimum temperatures of -6.1 °c during winter. parts of the eastern mpumalangan highveld do at times experience lower temperatures than sutherland, but not as consistently as sutherland does. snowfalls are not infrequent during the southern winter months. the south african astronomical observatory has an emplacement of telescopes about 20 km east of the town, on a small plateau 1798 m above sea level, and is home to the southern african large telescope, the largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. to the north, still on the plateau, and 75 km north-west of carnarvon, seven radio dishes form part of the square kilometer array which will, 2500 in total, be scattered in other parts of south africa and australia, to survey the southern skies at radio frequencies. our galaxy, the milky way, one of the main targets of this enterprise, is best viewed from the southern hemisphere.