World’s largest radio telescope

The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, is the world’s largest radio telescope. Hewn out of a mountain in China at a cost of $180 million, it will explore space and hunt for extraterrestrial life

Site: Built into natural basin of Dawodang depression

Steel ring beam

Reflector: Cable mesh supports 4,450 triangular panels

Support: Six towers hold receiver in place

Receiver: Gathers data from reflector

200m 656ft

Observatory:Obtains data from receiver

Rainwater drainage tunnel

Beijing

CHINA

FAST

1,000km 620 miles

GUIZHOU PROVINCE

5km 3 miles

S312

FAST

Exclusion zone: 9,110 residents relocated to ensure FAST remains isolated from possible
electromagnetic disruptions

Triangular panel: Reflector is too big to move but adjustable panels allow surface
to be re-angled. Can study twice as much sky as that covered by Arecibo Observatory

Perforated aluminium

FAST: 500m wide

Arecibo, Puerto Rico: Previous largest radio telescope (305m wide)

Sources: International Journal of Modern Physics D, FAST, wire agencies