China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture¹ Spherical² Radio Telescope (FAST), the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, will have with a new receiver installed to boost its efficiency in surveying the sky.

 

中国的500米口径球面射电望远镜（FAST），世界最大的单碟射电望远镜，将装配一台新接收器以加强测量天空的效率。

 

The 19-beam L-band receiver, first of its kind worldwide, is expected to be put into use in early June and it will increase FAST's survey speed by five to six times, according to Friday's Science and Technology Daily.

 

The receiver was jointly³ developed by scientists from China and Australia. It weighs 1.2 tonnes and cost over 20 million yuan (about 3.14 million U.S. dollars).

 

Jin Chengjin, chief engineer of FAST's receiver system, said the new receiver has the highest sensitivity and will greatly improve FAST's efficiency in searching for new pulsars and spectral⁴ lines.

 

Located in a natural, deep round karst depression in Guizhou Province, southwest China, FAST is believed to be the world's most sensitive radio telescope.

 

Its tasks include observation of pulsars, exploration of interstellar molecules⁵, and monitoring interstellar communication signals.

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