China on Sunday inaugurated its new Wide View Astronomical Telescope (WFST), the largest of its kind in the northern hemisphere, which has already produced an image of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy.
The telescope, located at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Qinghai province, is under the supervision of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is the most powerful of its kind in the northern hemisphere, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The WFST, jointly developed since 2019 by the University of Science and Technology of China and the observatory, covers the entire northern hemisphere of the sky, which will benefit astronomical research and near-Earth space monitoring.
With a diameter of 2.5 meters, this telescope is located in the village of Lenghu, at an average altitude of 4,200 meters. This place is known as China’s “Camp Mars” due to its desert landscape similar to the surface of the red planet.
One of the highlights of WFST is its ability to capture precise images of distant galaxies, such as the one it recorded of the Andromeda galaxy, located more than 2 million light years away.
Its large field of view and high resolution allow you to photograph galaxies that are difficult to observe with other telescopes.
This telescope will also help in monitoring dynamic astronomical events and in time domain astronomical observation research.
The device will also improve China’s ability to monitor near-Earth objects and issue early warnings.
This new type of telescope takes photographs of the universe with greater width and depth, using a method that bounces light between multiple mirrors, before capturing the image in a giant camera.
The Lenghu area, which when completed will be the largest astronomical observation base in Asia, began construction in 2017 and already houses 12 telescopes.
In total, more than 30 telescopes will be installed on Saishiteng Mountain, including the 6.5-meter MUST (multiplex survey telescope) and the EAST (extended aperture segmented telescope), which is also 6.5 meters.
The city, with a total area of 17,800 square kilometers, is located 944 kilometers from the capital of Qinghai province, Xining.
In recent years, the Chinese space program has achieved several successes, such as the landing of the Chang’e 4 probe on the far side of the Moon – an unprecedented feat – and the placement of a probe on Mars, becoming the third country – after the United States – and former Soviet Union – to do so.
China also completed a permanent space station last year, the culmination of more than a decade of efforts to maintain a constant presence of crew members in orbit.
Source: TSF
