World’s largest radio telescope starts work
GUIYANG: The world’s largest radio telescope was put into use in a mountainous region of southwest China’s Guizhou Province.
Shortly after noon yesterday, in a karst valley in Pingtang County, hundreds of astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts witnessed the official launch of the 500m Aperture Spherical Telescope’s (FAST) mission to explore space and hunt for extraterrestrial life.
Work on the nearly 1.2bilyuan (RM742mil) project started in 2011, 17 years after it was proposed by Chinese astronomers.
The installation of the telescope’s main structure –a 4,450panel reflector as large as 30 football pitches – was finished in early July.
“(The telescope) will certainly generate enthusiasm, bring people into science, and make China important in the world of science,” Joseph Taylor, a Nobel Prizewinning astronomer at Princeton University, said.
The astronomer was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1993 for discovering indirect proof of gravitational waves with the assistance of Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, home to a radio telescope that is 350m in diameter.
The telescope’s leading engineer Wang Qiming said the telescope, designed and built by Chinese scientists, will remain the global leader for the next 10 to 20 years. — Xinhua