TIME to power up the largest radio telescope in the world. China’s Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) began spying on outer space this week.
The device will measure radio waves in space, allowing us to study the rotation of galaxies, monitor the behaviour of pulsars and keep an eye out for signals sent by aliens.
FAST sits in a remote, mountainous area of Guizhou Province in south-western China, which will help protect it against radio interference such as that from cellphones and Wi-Fi. Construction began in 2011.
The telescope, named after the size of its dish – 500 metres across – is about 200 metres wider than its closest rival, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, built in the early 1960s. “As far as we’re concerned, imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” says Christopher Salter, at Arecibo.
That means that FAST will be able to see dimmer objects than the Arecibo telescope can detect, says Michael Nolan at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
This article appeared in print under the headline “China’s eye opens”