Five hundred meter aperture spherical radio telescope (FAST)

摘要

Five hundred meter aperture spherical radio telescope (FAST) will be the largest radio telescope in the world. The innovative engineering concept and design pave a new road to realizing a huge single dish in the most effective way. Three outstanding features of the telescope are the unique karst depressions as the sites, the active main reflector which corrects spherical aberration on the ground to achieve full polarization and a wide band without involving a complex feed system, and the light focus cabin driven by cables and servomechanism plus a parallel robot as secondary adjustable system to carry the most precise parts of the receivers. Being the most sensitive radio telescope, FAST will enable astronomers to jumpstart many of the science goals, for example, the neutral hydrogen line surveying in distant galaxies out to very large redshifts, looking for the first shining star, detecting thousands of new pulsars, etc. Extremely interesting and exotic objects may yet await discovery by FAST. As a multi-science platform, the telescope will provide treasures to astronomers, as well as bring prosperity to other research, e.g. space weather study, deep space exploration and national security. The construction of FAST itself is expected to promote the development in high technology of relevant fields.