China unveils plans for Asia’s largest optical telescope
Peking University wants to build the largest optical telescope in Asia and close the gap in astronomy capabilities with the rest of the world.
The project aims to create an initial telescope with an opening of 19.7 feet (6 meters) in 2024; the mirror will be expanded to 26.2 feet (8 m) in 2030. The project, which is called the Expanding Aperture Segmented Telescope (EAST) in English, is led by Peking University.
The telescope will “greatly improve China’s observational capabilities in optical astronomy,” according to a Peking University. statement.
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The abbreviation EAST is appropriate, as the facility would become the first world-class optical telescope in the Eastern Hemisphere. Today’s leading facilities they are found in the Western Hemisphere in places around Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Atacama in Chile, and the Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa.
The first phase of the EAST project envisages building a mirror made up of 18 hexagonal mirror segments, similar to the NASA mirror. James Webb Space Telescope. The mirror would have a diameter of about 19.7 feet, again similar to that of JWST.
But unlike the newest space telescope, which orbits 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away from land at the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, EAST would be built on Saishiteng Mountain near the city of Lenghu in Qinghai Province in the tibetan plateau (opens in a new tab)at an altitude of about 13,800 feet (4,200 m).
The second phase would add a ring of 18 more hexagonal segments around the mirror, expanding it to a diameter of more than 26.2 feet by 2030.
Peking University estimates the project will cost 500-600 million yuan ($69-84 million). Qinghai news reported last month the works of the project progressed in an orderly manner.
Peking University points out that astronomy plays an important role in technology and social development, and that the Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 it was awarded to scientists who discovered the black hole at the center of the Milky Way using powerful optical telescopes, including the twin. Keck telescopes on top of Mauna Kea and the Very large telescope (VLT) in the Atacama Desert of Chile.
EAST would also be a great addition to China’s growing astronomy capabilities. The country has built the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope, FASTand plans to launch a large space observatory known as a Xuntian as early as the end of 2023.
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