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A sequence of pictures shows work on developing and building the world’s largest radio telescope, with the last one (bottom right) showing the completed project after the final piece was hoisted into place in southwest China’s Guizhou Province yesterday. — Xinhua
The final piece of what will be the world’s largest radio telescope was hoisted into place yesterday in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, a landmark in mankind’s search for extraterrestrial life.
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, is the size of 30 football fields and yesterday saw the last of its 4,450 panels fitted into its dish in an operation that took an hour.
About 300 people Carl Soderberg Womens Jersey , including builders, experts, space enthusiasts and reporters, witnessed the installation at a karst valley in Guizhou’s Pingtang County.
Work on the 1.2 billion yuan (US$180 million) project began in 2011.
“The telescope is of great significance for humans to explore the universe and extraterrestrial civilizations,” said Liu Cixin, an award-winning science fiction writer. “I hope scientists can make epoch-making discoveries,” he said.
Zheng Xiaonian Blake Comeau Womens Jersey , deputy head of the National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which built the telescope, said the project had the potential to boost the global hunt for extraterrestrial life and lead to a better understanding of the origin of the universe.
He said the telescope would be the global leader for the next 10 to 20 years.
In the first two or three years, Chinese scientists will use it for early-stage research. After that, it will be open to scientists worldwide, said Peng Bo, director of the NAO Radio Astronomy Technology Laboratory. Scientists will be able to operate the telescope by remote control and make observations from other cities Alexander Kerfoot Womens Jersey , such as Beijing, which is more than 2,000 kilometers from the site, Peng said.
The telescope will dwarf Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, which is 300 meters in diameter. It will also be 10 times more sensitive than a 100-meter telescope near Bonn, Germany, he said.
“Most of the technology and materials are domestically made Sven Andrighetto Womens Jersey ,” said Wang Qiming, chief technologist of the FAST project.
Among the seven FAST receivers, five were domestically made and another two were co-produced by Chinese, Australian and American institutions.
Radio telescopes have made major discoveries, such as pulsars, quasars and cosmic microwave background radiation. Of the 10 Nobel Prizes in p. Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Authentic Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Authentic Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Free Shipping Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale College Jerseys Wholesale NHL Jerseys
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