Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope
FAST, or the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, is a proposed radio telescope to be built in China. It will be similar in design to the Arecibo Observatory, utilizing a natural hollow to provide support for the telescope dish. As the name suggests, it will have a diameter of 500m.
It will use an adaptive surface that adjusts to create parabola in different directions, with an effective dish size of 300m. This means that, unlike Arecibo, it will not be confined to pointing directly upwards..
References
Nan, R. (16 June 2002). "Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope - KARST" (PDF). {{cite journal}}
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