China brings construction of world's largest telescope to an end; operations to begin in September!

Image courtesy: FAST/Universe Today

New Delhi: The much-anticipated wait for the world's largest radio telescope has finally come to an end. The telescope's last panel was put in place yesterday, thereby bringing the construction of the telescope to an end.

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, as it is being called, took approximately five years to complete and cost $180 million.

It has a massive reflector, which comprises of 4,450 panels and covers the same area as 30 football fields.

It will become operational in September and will aid scientists in their endeavour to search for extraterrestrial existence.

As per reports in The Next Web, over the next two to three years, the telescope will be subject to adjustments and used for early-stage research by scientists in China. It will then become available to researchers across the globe to use.

According to Xinhua News, FAST will aid in detecting pulsars, gravitational waves and eventually amino acids, which would confirm life on other planets.

FAST has surpassed the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which had previously held the baton of the world’s largest telescope at around 300m in diameter.

As per reports, more than 9,000 people will be moved out of the area surrounding the telescope and resettled in neighbouring counties by September, in order to ensure total radio silence within a five-kilometer radius.