FAST (Tianyan) Radio Telescope

텐옌(FAST) 전파 망원경

The world's largest single-dish radio telescope, a 500-metre dish of about 4,450 triangular panels set in a natural karst bowl in Pingtang, Guizhou. Six rim towers hold cables that steer the feed cabin hanging over the dish; nicknamed Tianyan, the 'Eye of Heaven'.

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At a glance

Country: China
Location: Pingtang, Guizhou, China
Built: 2016
Height: 160 m
Type: Infrastructure

Quick answers

Where is FAST (Tianyan) Radio Telescope?

FAST (Tianyan) Radio Telescope is in Pingtang, Guizhou, China.

When was FAST (Tianyan) Radio Telescope built?

FAST (Tianyan) Radio Telescope was built in 2016.

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, called FAST and nicknamed Tianyan, the Eye of Heaven, is the world's largest single-dish radio telescope. It sits in a natural bowl-shaped valley in Pingtang County, Guizhou, China. The dish is 500 m across and covered by about 4,450 triangular panels. The idea was first proposed in 1994, and the government approved the project in July 2007.

FAST catches radio waves from space. Construction began in 2011, the last panel was placed on 3 July 2016, and it was declared fully operational on 11 January 2020. It can listen to radio waves from 70 megahertz up to 3 gigahertz, and its data is stored by a system developed in Australia and Europe.

How it works

Because of the natural valley, builders did not need to dig a giant hole. A net of steel cables holds the dish, and 2,225 winches pull the panels so the shape can change to point at different parts of the sky. At any moment only a circle about 300 m wide is used. A feed cabin hangs about 140 m above the dish and moves on cables from six towers.

Discoveries

FAST found its first two new pulsars, which are spinning dead stars, in August 2017, and by November 2024 had found more than 1,000. To keep radio noise down, about 9,110 residents living within 5 km of the dish were moved. Cost was about 180 million US dollars.

Cost, people and listening for aliens

The telescope was budgeted at 700 million yuan but cost about 1.2 billion, or roughly 180 million US dollars, partly because the site is remote and the machines needed shielding against radio noise. A 65-person village was moved out of the valley, and thousands more people nearby were relocated. The main driving force was the scientist Nan Rendong. In 2022 astronomers reported a signal that might be artificial, but warned it could be natural radio interference. Because mobile phones make radio noise, tourists may not use them within 5 kilometres of the dish.

Fun facts

The dish is about 30 football fields in size.
It has found more than 1,000 pulsars.
The telescope is held by cables, and its cabin hangs in the air.
A foundation-laying ceremony was held in December 2008, three years before building really began.