World's largest radio telescope impresses media delegation

A media delegation visits a hall introducing Nan Rendong's life story on May 25, 2021. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The comprehensive performance of the telescope is more than 10 times higher than that of other radio telescopes around the world.

Since the first announcement from FAST on the discovery of pulsars on Oct 10, 2017, the astronomical facility has detected more than 300 high-quality pulsar candidates so far.

It officially opened to international scientists and astronomers on March 31, 2021. About 10 percent of the telescope's observation time will be allocated to foreign scientists from the global scientific community.

Astronomers worldwide can visit FAST's official website to submit their observation applications, and the application results will be announced on July 20.

Additionally, the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guizhou's Pingtang county announced on Oct 15, 2018, that asteroid 79694 would be named after FAST's former chief scientist, Nan Rendong. The honor commemorates the contributions of Nan, who passed away in September 2017.