China Has Almost Finished Building The World’s Largest Eye Into Space
The world’s largest viewer into space is nearly completed.
Two-thirds of the panels of what will be the planet’s largest radio telescope are finished.
The Five hundred metre Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, is 500m in diameter and comprises 4,500 triangular panels.
These can be shifted to rotate the telescope’s key feature: a 30-tonne “retina” suspended between 140m and 160m in the air that can see into space.
The telescope, located in Pingtang in Guizhou Province, China, is scheduled for completion in September 2016.
As these images show, those constructing the device are well on their way to making that deadline.
The telescope will reflect radio signals from the universe to a focal point, allowing it to see what no person has seen before.
Li Di, a scientist from the National Astronomical Observatories, said FAST will have a larger signal receiving area than the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the current home of the world’s largest telescope.
(Pictures: CEN)
