A galaxy far far away: World’s largest radio telescope to look for aliens

Miss Alone

Prime VIP
chinaradiotelescope_3e19e67882f211e6aff8-1.jpg


The world’s largest radio telescope began operating in southwestern China on Sunday, a project which Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life.

The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), nestled between hills in the mountainous region of Guizhou, began working around noon, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Built at a cost of 1.2 billion yuan ($180 million), the telescope dwarfs the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico as the world’s largest radio telescope, with a reflector as large as 30 football fields, it said.

fileschinasciencespace_572e85ba82f211e6a-1.jpg


FAST telescope under construction in Pingtang. (AFP File Photo)

FAST will explore space and search for signs of intelligent life, it added.

China sees its ambitious military-run, multi-billion-dollar space programme as symbolising the country’s progress. It plans a permanent orbiting space station by 2020 and eventually a manned mission to the moon.

Earlier Xinhua cited Wu Xiangping, director-general of the Chinese Astronomical Society, as saying that the telescope’s high degree of sensitivity “will help us to search for intelligent life outside of the galaxy”.

_db7b22ba82f211e6aff824833d3d422c-1.jpg


Construction of FAST began in 2011, and local officials vowed in February to relocate nearly 10,000 people living within five kilometres to create a better environment for monitoring.

In the past China has relocated hundreds of thousands of people to make way for large infrastructure projects such as dams and canals.

_d22d33f682f211e6aff824833d3d422c-1.jpg


The area surrounding the telescope is remote and relatively poor. Xinhua earlier said it was chosen because there are no major towns nearby.

https://twitter.com/ShanghaiEye/status/779944797737930752

 
Top