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![Photos taken on Aug. 2, 2015 (L, up), Dec. 16, 2015 (R, up), March 9, 2016 (L, bottom) and June 29, 2016 (R, bottom) show different assembling stages of the reflector of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or "FAST," in Pingtang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province [Xinhua]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/256271889_81.jpg)
Photos taken on Aug. 2, 2015 (L, up), Dec. 16, 2015 (R, up), March 9, 2016 (L, bottom) and June 29, 2016 (R, bottom) show different assembling stages of the reflector of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or “FAST,” in Pingtang County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province [Xinhua]
The world’s largest-ever radio telescope completed installation as the last piece of 4,450 panels was fitted in the center of the big dish on Sunday morning, said a Xinhua report.
The 500 metre-diameter telescope, which will dwarf the 300 metre-diameter Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico furthers China’s technological clout.
The hoisting of the last triangular-shaped panel to the reflector, as large as 30 football pitches, began at 10:47 a.m. and lasted about an hour on Sunday, said local media.
The telescope is made up of 4,450 triangular-shaped panels.
Work on the 1.2bn yuan (£127m) Fast (Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope) project began in the south-western province of Guizhou in 2011.
The telescope would begin operations in September. It will collect signals from the universe.
“With a larger signal receiving area and more flexibility, FAST will be able to scan two times more sky area than Arecibo, with three to five times higher sensitivity,” Li Di, chief scientist at the National Astronomical Observatories affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Daily last year.
Hundreds of Chinese witnessed the installation on Sunday in a karst valley in Pingtang County of the southwestern province of Guizhou.
TBP and Agencies
