China's Giant Radio Eye

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope is a radio dish in Pingtang County. FAST sits inside Dawodang basin.

FAST has 4,450 triangular aluminium panels. Winches pull joints to form a moving parabola shape.

It sits inside a natural sinkhole.

A feed cabin hangs 140 m above the reflector.

Building FAST cost $180 million. Constructing required relocating a 65-person village and 9,110 people within 5 km.

FAST observed first light on 25 September 2016. Testing took 3 years before becoming fully operational on 11 January 2020.

By November 2024, FAST discovered over 1,000 new pulsars. That exceeds all other telescopes combined. Astronomers are keeping score now.