China's FAST marks 10th anniversary with major astronomical advances

(ECNS) -- China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) marked the 10th anniversary of its completion, having become one of the world’s most important astronomical observation facilities. 

More than 200 experts and scholars from over 40 Chinese universities and research institutions gathered at the facility in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, from Sept. 22 to 24 to review its progress and discuss future plans.

As a major national scientific infrastructure project under China’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), FAST was commissioned ahead of schedule and achieved breakthroughs in several key technologies.

Over the past decade, FAST has produced major scientific findings in areas including pulsars, neutral hydrogen galaxies, fast radio bursts and gravitational waves.

Based on observations made by FAST, 13 papers have been published in the international journals Science and Nature. Related findings have twice been named among Science’s top 10 scientific breakthroughs and once among Nature’s top 10 scientific discoveries.

The team will continue work on the project’s second phase, further enhancing FAST’s observational capabilities and paving the way for more major scientific discoveries.

(By Helen Mo & intern Liu Shuangjing)