GUIYANG: China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) has identified more than 1,300 pulsars over the past decade, outnumbering the total pulsar discoveries made by all other international telescopes over the same period, according to an academic conference that opened on Wednesday.
Set to mark its 10th anniversary on Friday, FAST has driven a historic leap for China's radio astronomy over the past decade. Boasting enhanced observational capabilities, the telescope, located in southwest China's Guizhou Province, has continuously expanded humanity's understanding of the universe.
"Ten years of dedicated work has secured China's leading position in global radio astronomy," said FAST chief engineer Jiang Peng, also deputy director of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Noting that FAST has steadily fulfilled the goal of yielding early, abundant and high-quality scientific outcomes, Jiang said the telescope is striving to produce landmark major achievements.
FAST has made fruitful breakthroughs in engineering technology, frontier scientific research and practical application. Technological innovations including upgraded measurement and control systems, domestically manufactured steel cables and high-performance receivers have guaranteed the telescope's stable and efficient operation.
As one of the world's most vital astronomical observation facilities, FAST has achieved a series of internationally influential findings in key research fields covering pulsars, neutral hydrogen galaxies, fast radio bursts and gravitational waves.
Based on FAST's observational results, researchers have published 13 papers in top-tier journals Science and Nature. Its key achievements have been twice listed among Science's Top 10 scientific breakthroughs, once among Nature's Top 10 scientific discoveries, and ten times among China's Top 10 scientific and technological advances. - Xinhua
