China launches ‘Sky Eye’ telescope to hunt for life in space
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is the world’s largest single-dish telescope; it is situated in China’s Guizhou Province.
On Saturday 11 January, China officially opened operations of the world’s largest radio telescope. The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope – or FAST – will be used to conduct space research.
The telescope, which is the size of approximately 30 football fields and known as China’s ‘Sky Eye’, will help in the hunt for extraterrestrial life, according to the Xinhua news agency.
FAST: Here’s what you need to know
眼力决定眼界。1月11日，当被誉为中国天眼的500米口径球面射电望远镜通过国家验收正式开放运行，成为全球最大且最灵敏的射电望远镜，也意味着人类向宇宙未知地带探索的眼力更加深邃，眼界更加开阔。
2颗，11颗，43颗，93颗，102颗从2017年10月中国天眼首次发现2颗脉冲星，到11日召开的国家验收会上公布已发现102颗脉冲星，它两年多来发现的脉冲星超过同期欧美多个脉冲星搜索团队发现数量的总和。
中国天眼的灵敏度达到世界第二大射电望远镜的2.5倍以上，可有效探索的空间范围体积扩大4倍，使科学家有能力发现更多未知星体、未知宇宙现象、未知宇宙规律 验收会上，中科院院士武向平等6位专家分别宣读工艺验收、电波环境保护等验收意见，国家发改委高技术司副司长沈竹林宣布中国天眼各项指标均达到或优于批复的验收指标，主要性能指标达到国际领先水平，具备了开放运行条件。
http://tech.creaders.net/2020/01/11/2178027.html
Construction of the telescope was completed on 25 September 2016, followed by debugging procedures and test in the years since. It has now received national approval to begin operations.