ChinA unveils five hundred meter Apesphericalrthre telescope

China unveils Five-hundred-meter ApeSphericalrture Telescope in search for extraterrestrial life China on 25 September 2016 officially launched the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in a mountainous region of Guizhou province. The telescope was launched to hunt for extraterrestrial life and explore space.  Key highlights of Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope • The FAST is a radio telescope located in the Dawodang depression, a natural basin in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, southwest China. • It consists of a fixed 500 m dish constructed in a natural depression in the landscape. • It is the world's largest filled aperture (single dish) radio telescope. • It is the second largest radio telescope after the Russian RATAN-600. • The final cost of the project is 180 million US dollars. • Construction on the FAST project began in 2011 and was completed in July 2016. • The chief scientist of the project is Nan Rendong. • It has a fixed primary reflector located in a natural hollow in the landscape, focusing radio waves on a receiver suspended 140 m above it. • The reflector is made of perforated aluminium panels supported by a mesh of steel cables hanging from the rim. • Its surface is made of 4450 triangular panels, 11 m on a side, in the form of a geodesic dome. • It is capable of pointing anywhere within ±40° from the zenith.