500-meter Diameter Spherical Radio Telescope
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China begins operating world's largest radio telescope
The official Xinhua News Agency said hundreds of astronomers and enthusiasts watched the launch of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, in the county of Pingtang. Researchers quoted by state media said FAST would search for gravitational waves, detect radio emissions from stars and galaxies and listen for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life. "The ultimate goal of FAST is to discover the laws of the development of the universe," Qian Lei, an associate researcher with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told state broadcaster CCTV. "In theory, if there is civilization in outer space, the radio signal it sends will be similar to the signal we can receive when a pulsar (spinning neutron star) is approaching us," Qian said. Installation of the 4,450-panel structure, nicknamed Tianyan, or the Eye of Heaven, started in 2011 and was completed in July.
Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is a Chinese mega-science project aiming to build the largest single dish radio telescope in the world, with innovative concepts. It is funded by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and managed by the National Astronomical observatories (NAOC) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), with the government of Guizhou province as a cooperation partner. The project is expected to be completed by 25 September 2016.
China Finishes Building World's Largest Radio Telescope
On Sunday (July 3), technicians installed the last of the 4,450 panels that make up the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope's (FAST) giant dish, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Project team members will soon begin testing and debugging FAST, after which Chinese scientists will use it for "early-stage research," Xinhua reported. But the instrument will be available to researchers around the world when that phase is over — likely two to three years from now. With a dish the size of 30 football fields, FAST is by far the largest single-aperture telescope in the world (though arrays that link up multiple radio dishes cover more ground). The previous record holder in the field is the 1,000-foot-wide (300 meters) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. FAST was built in China's Guizhou Province, more than 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers) southwest of Beijing. The 1.2-billion-yuan ($180 million) facility should help scientists learn more about the universe's early days, detect low-frequency gravitational waves and hunt for signals that may have been produced by distant alien civilizations, project officials said.
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1 The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is a radio telescope located in a natural basin of the Dawodang depression , in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, southwest China.
2 The Chinese Academy of Sciences announced this week that its new Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is now ready to scan the skies.
3 The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is nestled within a natural basin in China's remote and mountainous southwestern Guizhou province. Nicknamed Tianyan, or the Eye of Heaven, the new radio telescope is seen in this photograph taken near the start of its testing phase of operations on September 25.