World's largest radio telescope will soon start searching for interstellar signals

摘要

The '500m-aperture spherical telescope' (FAST), the world's largest radio telescope, is to begin its debugging and testing stage. The construction of FAST, located in southwestern China's Guizhou Province, was completed on 25 September by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). At 500m, the telescope has the world's largest 'aperture' and 4,450 triangular panels with a total area equal to 30 football pitches. It not only surpasses the Arecibo Observatory - once the world's largest 'single-aperture' telescope - in size, but also in sensitivity and overall performance.