FAST: China inaugurates the world’s biggest telescope
With a 500-metre diameter, the new facility will help study the structure of galaxies and the formation of stars. There is no competition with the United States.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Tomorrow China inaugurates the world’s biggest telescope with a diameter of 500 metres, which is the equivalent of 300 football fields.
Officially named the Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the facility in Guizhou will replace the telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory as the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope.
The new powerful tool will help scientists study the structure of galaxies and the formation of stars.
FAST will cost 1.2 billion yuan (US$ 162 million) to build, with an additional 1.8 billion yuan to relocate more than 9,000 residents from the site.
The relocation was to make sure that no one lived within 5km of the telescope.
To protect it from radiation interference, people would not be allowed to use electronic devices, including mobile phones and digital cameras, if they entered the area.
China is upgrading many research facilities in an effort to generate as much basic science as the US by 2020. However, according to many scientists, the new radio telescope will be useful for the whole world and not for competitive purposes.
Scientists say they need a wide range of telescopes covering different parts of the sky and radio frequencies to study the universe.
.png)
