Aerial photo taken on Aug. 27, 2019 shows China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)
The 500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope (FAST), also known as China's Tianyan or "Sky Eye," will officially open to the world and accept observation applications from scientists around the world on Wednesday at midnight.
According to China's National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), foreign scientists can submit their applications online, and all foreign applications for observation will be evaluated in a unified manner. The results will be announced on July 20, and observations will begin in August.
Located in Pingtang county, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, FAST is the world's largest single-aperture radio telescope and China owns the intellectual property rights.
Since it was completed in 2016, the facility has been operating stably and reliably, discovering more than 300 pulsars and making several breakthroughs in the field of fast radio bursts and other research, the CAS announced.
According to the CAS, FAST is open to the world in line with the principle of open skies. The "Sky Eye" will provide research facilities to the world with a more open attitude and offer more observation possibilities to the global scientific community, contributing Chinese wisdom to building a community of shared future for humanity, and striving to promote the development of world science and technology and the progress of human civilization.