There is also the Square kilometer array radio telescope: https://www.skatelescope.org/
It could be ready to operate before the decade is out and is even bigger. - frank W4TG On Wed, Dec 2, 2020 at 7:03 PM Wes <[email protected]> wrote: > Did they show you the transmitter? > > Wes N7WS > > > On 12/2/2020 10:22 AM, Andrew Faber via Elecraft wrote: > > This is certainly getting way off topic on the Elecraft reflector, but I > can’t resist mentioning that I have visited the FAST telescope in Guizhou > Province. Here is a brief explanation from my trip notes (we were guests > because my wife is an astronomer with many Chinese colleagues). It’s odd > that they are creating a tourist destination, since normally such > telescopes are located to minimize RFI. > > > > “We were met by a driver from FAST in a Honda Odyssey for the two-hour > drive to Pingtang, China’s self-proclaimed “Astronomy City.” There is a > huge amount of new construction, as they try to take advantage of the FAST > to create a tourist destination. There are new shops and hotels being > built, and on the sides of the roads they even have statues and bas reliefs > of famous scientists and scientific instruments. FAST stands for “Five > hundred meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope,” and that’s just what it > is – outdoing the 300-meter radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico by > far. It’s in a valley that had a dozen or so homes before they houses were > demolished. It’s 500 meters across, and is partly steerable, since the > panels can be somewhat deformed by 4,000 actuators pulling on cables that > tug on the panels that comprise the reflective surface. The receiving > “cabin” is suspended on cables attached to six huge (maybe 350-400 feet > tall) towers. So by moving the cabin and pulling on cables, they can > apparently track through about 20 degrees, unlike Arecibo, which is fixed > in a spherical shape. The actuators that deform the mirror into a parabola > are hydraulic and need only pull about a foot and a half or so on each > cable. Although it was late, we drove down for a quick look at the > telescope, since it wasn’t raining. It’s an unbelievably impressive > mechanical construct. > > > > 73, andy ae6y > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
