SALT is a fixed altitude telescope, and therefore observing with it is more complicated than observing with most ground-based telescopes. SALT can access ~70% of the sky observable at Sutherland, but only during specific "windows of opportunity". Objects are not always accessible by SALT, even though they may be above the horizon. However, the dates an object can be observed during the course of a year are almost identical to that of a more traditional telescope.

Because of the novel design, namely the fixed altitude (53 degrees) of the telescope and a moving prime focus tracker with a range of only 12 degrees in Hour Angle, SALT can only observe objects that fall within a certain zenith distance (31 degrees < z < 43 degrees). This means that the telescope can access a viewing 'window' in the shape of an annulus, centred at the zenith (i.e. straight up), but with radii 31 and 43 degrees respectively.

For SALT to follow targets along their sidereal paths the tracker and its instrument payload, suspended above the primary mirror, must move appropriately, as shown in the following diagram:

The tracker can move in both the X and Y directions by 3.25 metres in total, while the payload itself can tilt by 8.5 degrees in from the Z-axis in the two directions perpendicular to X and Y.

An object can be acquired and tracked so long as the tracker and payload stay within the above translational (1.625 m in either direction in X or Y) and rotational (8.5 degrees in either direction in tip/tilt) limits. SALT can therefore track an astronomical object once it is inside the viewing annulus. Objects rising in the east can be observed as soon as they are ~43 degrees from the zenith and can be followed as they rise until they either leave the annulus at ~31 degrees zenith distance, or, alternatively, when the tracker hexapods are at their maximum tilt (8.5 degrees from the nominal 37 degrees tilt angle of SALT). A similar situation exists for object setting in the west. In principle it is therefore possible at certain times of the year for an object to be observable twice a night, before it culminates and after. The following figure demonstrates how the entrance pupil of the telescope "migrates" over the mirror array, leading to a varying collecting area, which is at its maximum value (~65 square metres) when the tracker is centred (time is arbitrary).

Because the time it takes to cross the viewing annulus is Declination dependent, the amount of time available to observe a target varies considerably. This is illustrated in the following diagram which should be compared carefully with the first figure on this page. The First figure illustrates the range of hour angles over which a source can be acquired. The figure below represents the amount of track time available if the source was acquired at the earliest opportunity on a favourable night: