China's "Eye Of Heaven" - The World's Largest Telescope

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A huge technological and scientific leap was taken by China in the fall of 2016 when it completed the construction of the world’s largest telescope, known as the five-hundred-meter aperture spherical telescope, FAST 17 or "the Eye of Heaven".

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The 21st century has witnessed spectacular technological and scientific advancements, but not a lot could be as stunning and breath taking – don’t forget, ‘gigantic’, as the massive bowl-shaped dish called locally as “Tianyan”, meaning the Eye of Heaven.

The massive tech device set the Chinese back, by 1.2 billion yuan ($180 million dollars); a figure they hoped t and have started offsetting through tourism.

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Idea and History behind ‘the eye of heaven’

The idea of ‘the Eye of Heaven’ was first conceived in 1993, as a preliminary study project called “the Knowledge Innovation Project”. It scaled its first hurdle towards actualization, when the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology gave its support to the project.

It however, tool another six years before the National Development and Reform Commission approved it in 2007, when it entered its feasibility study phase.

About a year later, the project got the green light for commencement and the initial design phase kicked-off.

Proper construction began in 2011 and about five and a half years later, the stunning high-tech telescope was completed and it became operational

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Construction Phases

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Location and Dimension

The “Tianyan” was sited above rural villages around the Guizhou Mountains in Southwest China. It occupies nearly three-mile radius of which local residents numbering about 9,000 had to be relocated to limit effects of radio interference.

Constructed in the Dawodang depression, which has water drainage, temperate climate, and weather-resistant rocks, the surrounding karst topography creates the ideal location for the telescope, since the mountains help keep the winds down and protect against radio frequency interference.

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The ‘Eye of heaven’ is twice the dimension of the Arecibo dish located in Puerto Rico. The Tianyan dish which is spherical has a diameter of 500-metres (1600-feet). The device is about five football fields in diameter if laid end-to-end. It can also contain 30 soccer fields.

Its location in the Dawodang depression gives it a peak angle of 40 degrees, with an opening angle of between 100 – 200 degrees, and an illuminated surface of 300-metres.

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Special Features

For the telescope to achieve full separation and wide operational band, without having the Chinese tech designers install complex mechanisms, a special feature was embedded in the telescope to allow its main reflector the ability to correct spherical abnormalities on the ground.

Despite the advance tech the device boasts of, additional feed systems would allow the ‘Eye of Heaven’ to achieve a southern zenith angle of 60 degrees. This functionality would extend sky its coverage of the sky past the galactic center, as we know it.

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Staffing and Management

About 71 scientists, site professionals and technicians currently work for the project which is known as the five-hundred-metre aperture spherical telescope, FAST. The device became operational in September of 2016. It functions are currently overseen by the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since it went operational in September of 2016, the telescope has completed several missions.

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Functionality and Capability

Although the telescope does look like an eye, its actual function mirrors a highly sensitive ear. This is because it the telescope listens to radio waves in space, unlike the ‘Hubble’ telescope which captures light.

The ‘Eye of Heaven’ can separate and distinguish sounds that it hears from the white noise background generated by pulsars and stars from space.

The frequency range its radio-spectrum covers is in the 70MHz to 3GHz operational bands. Movable feed cabins attached to the telescope hang from cables above the dish and it serves as the focal point for the radio waves.

Since about 39,000 individual panels were used to assemble the dish surface, the telescope has the ability to change shape in order to focus better on radio waves. Also, a secondary adjustable system is created by a parallel robot and servomechanism to allow for high-precision tuning.

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Obejctives of the ‘Eye of Heaven’

While a lot of us – science enthusiasts, research scientists and space researchers, alike - might still have questions about the presence of ‘Pulsars’, ‘Dark Matter’ and ‘Alien Contact’; and whether we (humans) are alone in the universe, the main scientific goals and objectives of the highly sensitive and functionally advanced FAST telescope are multi-faceted. Its objectives include;

• search for advanced alien life – entities who might be broadcasting radio waves into space
• map portions of the Milky Way
• improving sharpness of images relative to the Arecibo telescope by mapping;
  a) – Pulsars
  b) – Supernovae
  c) – Black hole emissions
  d) – Interstellar gas

As part of its functionality and apart from further enhancing what the ‘Arecibo’ telescope has found, scientists running the telescope plan to start new searches for:

• First shining stars in space
• Dark matter
• Extragalactic and new galactic pulsars
• Radio signals from extraterrestrial life in conjunction with the US-based SETI organization
• Neutral hydrogen in our galaxy and other galaxies.

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Tourism: Added potential of the “Eye of Heaven”

Tourists who visit the telescope can have access to it for free, but it costs 50 yuan ($7.20 dollars) to catch a shuttle ride to the site and an additional 50 Yuan, to visit the local astronomical museum which is closeby.

The aim of its tourism approach is to make China’s newest tech and scientific and development a scenic landmark. However, for those who plan on visiting, it is advised that you schedule your visit adequately because only 2,000 visitors are allowed to have access to the site daily. This is to avoid and prevent tourist interfering with scientific operations.

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In Summary

A lot of credit must go to the Chinese for launching the amazing FAST telescope device - the world's biggest telescope. The budget, scientific and technological input, and the workforce assembled towards its completion, is simply amazing, to say the least.

The launch of the ‘Eye of Heaven’ means, China has taken giant strides towards surpassing the rest of the world, in leading scientific achievements.

Currently, China boasts of a growing and progressive technological workforce. They also boast of advances in multiple scientific disciplines, and they have put plans in motion to visit the moon.

With a vast population, China also boasts of the most scientific researchers than other technologically advanced countries. They are currently outspending so many continents, in scientific research and development.

As to whether its function would yield substantive information about 'potential' life or 'alien contact', only time would tell. The device is now in place. Analysing and studying data and signals, would now be the focus of the scientists.

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Source/Reference: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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