China is starting to assemble what will be the world’s largest radio telescope. The work won’t be completed until next year, and it’s part of the country’s ambitious agenda in space. HPR’s Bill Dorman has more in today’s Asia Minute.
Let’s start with the radio part of this. Objects in space give off a range of electro-magnetic radiation across a broad spectrum. Some of that radiation is visible…some is not. But can be detected as radio waves. As the National Radio Astronomy Observatory explains on its website, radio waves penetrate dust, allowing scientists to study regions of space that can’t be seen in visible light.
China has been working on this massive radio telescope for the past four years. Crews are now assembling the telescope’s dish, which will be as wide as five and a half football fields. The official Xinhua news agency quotes the project’s chief scientist as saying the size and sensitivity of the telescope will let technicians detect even weak signals and separate them from background noise. He likens the process to “identifying the sound of cicadas in a thunderstorm.” Xinhua also quotes the director general of the Chinese Astronomical Society as saying the new telescope will “help us to search for intelligent life outside of the galaxy and explore the origins of the universe.”
