China begins testing world's largest radio telescope as construction of
the £124 MILLION project enters final stage of completion, measuring 500
metres in diameter, being put through its paces with a dry run. The
project name is called 'FAST' which stands for “Five-hundred-meter
Aperture Spherical Telescope” the device is being constructed in Guizhou
Province, south-west China. The project has taken more than five years
to build world's biggest single-aperture radio telescope which covers
above the size of 30 football pitches and is presently running on
schedule. Scientists carried out the last stages with hopes for a
September 2016 completion.
Moreover, Chinese authorities and
engineers tested important component inside the gigantic telescope
before it goes live indefinitely. Thusa, a mechanism that weighs more
than 30,000 kilograms and is suspended 160 metres above the reflector
dish, which is still unfinished, and the reflector dish will collect up
signals from the whole universe. The project was first proposed in 2003,
as body of telescope measuring 500 meters across. Therefore, the huge
dish is made up of more than 4,500 mostly triangular panels and its side
panels measure 11 metres long, the motion of these panels alter the
collective shape of the antenna. The new antenna is adept of reflecting
radio signals from the universe to a focal point, where the receiver
dome sits.
The design of the telescope is not too much difficult
to understand, it is very similar to a TV antenna: “FAST” is similar to
any television antenna on a roof, but it is so much larger that. Some
astronomers predict it will not be long before new discoveries are found
because of the advanced technology of FAST and also expect it to find
unidentified stars in the Milky Way other more distant thousands of
galaxies in different environments in the local universe. After the
completion of its detection, FAST is expected to maintain world-class
status for the next 20-30 years. Moreover, the massive radio telescope
will cost about 1.2 billion Yuan (£124 million), making it the biggest
astronomy project China has ever had. The remoteness of the location
also protects the surrounding landscape from any damage.