China will create the world's largest radio telescope with the area of 30 football pitches

Almaty. July 24. Silkroadnews - "China has begun installation of the world's largest radio telescope. With it, China will be able to explore the early universe, as well as to search for traces of intelligent life outside the galaxy. The observatory is expected to occupy an area of ​​30 football fields", - quotes the edition lenta.ru on Friday.
The diameter of the telescope FAST (Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope) is 500 m. According to this indicator Observatory will overtake the largest (and similar) today telescope in the world - the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (with a diameter of 305 m).
The perimeter of the telescope will be 1.6 km, within 5 km there is no city. The observatory will be mounted in a natural recess, surrounded by hills, which provides the appropriate conditions for FAST.
The radio telescope will be located in the southwestern province of Guizhou. For installation of 4450 panels of triangular shape, construction works started on July 23, 2015.
Construction of the observatory began in 2011. Completion is planned in 2016. The cost of the new telescope is estimated at $100 million.