GUIZHOU PROVINCE, China – China has begun construction of what soon will be the world’s largest radio telescope in the remote regions of Guizhou province in southern regions of the country.
Currently, the title of the world’s largest radio telescope belongs to Puerto Rico, known to many as the Arecibo Observatory. The observatory was made famous in the James Bond movie “GoldenEye” in 1995. Arecibo Observatory was completed in 1963, but updated throughout the last five decades.
The new telescope will dwarf that of its Puerto Rico counterpart, having capabilities which will give it three times that of Arecibo.
Expecting to take four years to complete, the five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope or “FAST”, will be the most advanced telescope of its kind.
Currently a massive uprising has taken place as over 9,000 residents from the provincial region are being forced from their homes to make way for the monster telescope.
Each resident is being paid 12,000 yuan (approximately $1,800) to relocate – a fraction of the 1.2 billion yan ($181.5 million) it will cost to construct the massive telescope.
Some unique factors associate with the telescope include the 4,500 panels which will be set into place, along with the ability to reshape itself, the telescope will be far advanced from others in use today around the world.
The size of the “FAST” will be almost two times that of Arecibo Observatory. China’s telescope will also scan two times more sky area that Arecibo, with five times more sensitivity.
China broke ground in Guizhou Province in 2011 and is near completing the project by September of 2016.
The massive telescope will allow scientists a comprehensive study of thousands of galaxies in numerous environments, allowing human life to see space like never before.
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