FAST Radio telescope

WHY IN NEWS?

China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is finally fully operational.

ABOUT FAST RADIO TELESCOPE

• The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, nicknamed Tianyan is a radio telescope located in Pingtang County, Guizhou, southwest China.
• It consists of a fixed 500 m (1,600 ft) diameter dish constructed in a natural depression in the landscape.
• The now fully operational telescope has set a new record for the largest single dish radio telescope in the world. (The next largest radio dish is at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which is known for finding pulsars, mapping planets).
• The diameter of FAST’s dish measures nearly half a kilometer and is made up of more than 4,400 aluminum panels which are tilted and turned by about 2,000 mechanical winches.
• Because of this, it’s also the most sensitive radio telescope in the world—2.5 times more sensitive than any currently operating radio telescope. This means it’ll be able to probe the deepest, darkest corners of the universe.
• FAST is part of the Breakthrough Initiatives program, an international cooperation between telescopes in the U.S., Australia, and China, which aims to search for signs of alien civilizations in the universe.

Prelims Question

Q. FAST radio telescope which was recently in news was launched by which country?
a)USA
b)China
c)India
d)Japan

Answer to the Prelims Question