How China’s FAST Telescope Became the World’s Largest Radio Eye to the Universe 2025

The Rise of the FAST Telescope in China

In 2016, China wrapped up constructing the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world. As of January 2020, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) was fully operational. As its name indicates, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is 500 meters (about 1,600 feet) across. This makes it 2.5 times larger compared to the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which measured 305 meters (1,000 feet) across and was the previous largest single-dish radio telescope. There is an observatory termed FAST in the Dawodang depression in Guizhou province, China. It had become the world's biggest single-dish radio telescope when it began capturing images in September 2016. Over 2.5 times as much space is utilized by FAST as it is by the Arecibo Observatory. Given that FAST is so large, the dish remains stationary, and it had to be built in a depression. With FAST's massive collecting area, it will be possible to triple the number of known pulsars, generate an extensive map of the hydrogen gas in the Milky Way, and perhaps even observe many more stars for evidence of life that originates from other celestial bodies. 

What Makes FAST Different From Arecibo

The dish's surface has the ability to alter shape, and the feed cabin, the area where the radio waves are transmitted, is suspended from six cables and moves around the dish's surface. This enables the telescope to observe sources within 40 degrees of the zenith. The number of known pulsars has risen from close to 2,000 to about 6,000 due to FAST. It is also capable of generating highly detailed maps of the neutral hydrogen gas in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is capable of picking up radio waves from planets far away from our solar system that are like Jupiter. It is able to search for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence around many more stars than previous missions.  

                                                                       A Brief History of Telescopes Since Galileo

In the early 1600s, telescopes were initially created. Galileo was the first individual who aimed a telescope at the sky in 1609. It was just 20 times brighter compared to what we have today, but he transformed the field of astronomy by seeing mountains on the Moon, spotting Jupiter's four large moons, viewing Venus's phases, and discovering that the Milky Way is made up of many stars. As soon as Isaac Newton built his reflector, which had mirrors instead of lenses, it was the next major advancement in telescope technology. Nowadays, telescopes have become so large that they cover entire buildings. The Gran Telescopio Canarias, with a viewing area of 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) across, is the world's largest optical telescope at present.  

FAST Telescope and the Future of Space Exploration

Telescopes are not only bigger, but they can also study waves of light that are significantly greater compared to what our eyes can see. Since the early 1900s, astronomers have been successfully experimenting with new wavelengths. Karl Jansky, an engineer for the telephone company, made a radio antenna in 1928 to figure out where interference in phone calls originated from. He found that some of the interference was coming from the stars, particularly the center of the galaxy. Telescopes didn't consist of glass mirrors, but huge metal dishes, like FAST. This marked the beginning of radio astronomy. As the space age started, new forms of telescopes were developed that were capable of viewing infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. These new telescopes could observe the whole electromagnetic spectrum. Since Galileo's hand-held tube, telescopes have come a long way.