Comparable to the "China Sky Eye", can this telescope see alien civilizations?

Not long ago

Qitai radio telescope at Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Official groundbreaking ceremony

Schematic diagram of the Qitai radio telescope project effect

Source: Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory

Once completed, it is expected to become the world's largest

The most accurate omnidirectional radio telescope

gravitational waves in the nanohertz

Black holes, dark matter, celestial bodies, and the origin of life, etc.

Conduct scientific research in cutting-edge fields

This good news caused

Discussions and questions from netizens

So how much do you know about telescopes?

What is the difference between the Qitai radio telescope and the "China Sky Eye"?

The high-frequency band coverage of the Qitai radio telescope exceeds that of the "Sky Eye". Although the diameter of the Qitai radio telescope under construction is only 110 meters, while the diameter of the "China Sky Eye" FAST is 500 meters, the 500-meter diameter reflector of the "China Sky Eye" is set up in a ravine formed by karst landforms, which is fixed and can only observe a limited area; while the Qitai radio telescope is omnidirectional, which allows the Qitai radio telescope to observe three-quarters of the sky with extremely high sensitivity.

Model of the 110-meter-diameter omnidirectional movable radio telescope

Image source: Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences

In addition to being able to rotate freely, it is also expected to become the world's largest movable radio telescope. Astronomical telescopes have always followed the iron rule of "aperture is king". No matter what band the telescope is, the larger the aperture, the farther and fainter the celestial bodies can be seen, bringing more new astronomical discoveries. The same is true for the development history of radio telescopes.

The geographical location of the site has unique advantages. Before the construction of the "China Sky Eye", Mr. Nan Rendong, the "Father of China's Sky Eye", personally crossed mountains and ridges to conduct field investigations, and visited hundreds of pits in the southwest region with karst landforms as natural barriers. It took him 12 years to finally find Dawodang, Kedu Town, Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, as the most ideal place for China's Sky Eye.

Site selection for the "Sky Eye" in Pingtang County, Guizhou

Image source: Xinhua News Agency

The same is true for the site selection of the Qitai radio telescope. According to Wang Na, director of the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, researchers spent many years selecting about 48 points along the Tianshan Mountains for comprehensive comparison, and finally found the ideal site in Shihezi Village, Banjiegou Town, Qitai County. This place is far away from densely populated areas, located in a mountain basin, with little interference from radio signals, and the environmental conditions such as water vapor and wind speed monitored also meet the long-term operation requirements of the telescope.

Why can astronomical telescopes "see" so far?

Since ancient times

People have a strong interest in the starry sky.

Scientists throughout the ages have been advancing

Explore technological innovations in astronomical telescopes

Expanding human vision from the surroundings to the depths of the universe

Image source: pixabay copyright library

In 1609, Galileo began to use a homemade astronomical telescope to observe celestial bodies. The aperture was only about 4 centimeters and the visual imaging magnification was only 30 times, but it also allowed people to observe celestial bodies for the first time beyond the limitations of the naked eye.

Soon, German astronomer Kepler improved the design of Galileo's astronomical telescope by changing the eyepiece of the telescope from a concave lens to a set of short-focal-length convex lenses. The 40-centimeter binocular refracting telescope owned by the Shanghai Astronomical Museum in my country is of this type.

Sheshan Observatory 40cm binocular refracting telescope

Source: Journal of the Chinese Physical Society

After hundreds of years of development, scientists have discovered that the size of the astronomical telescope aperture determines the ability to collect light, and thus determines the telescope's resolution and ability to observe faint targets. As a result, the aperture of optical telescopes has become larger and larger, and the observation band has also expanded from optical to multi-band. The 1.56-meter optical telescope of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, which was born in the 1980s, is a Cassegrain reflecting telescope that can stably track celestial bodies.

1.56m optical telescope

Source: Journal of the Chinese Physical Society

As telescopes become larger and larger, the processing of telescope lenses has become difficult. For example, the main mirror of the Guo Shoujing Telescope located in Xinglong, Hebei, my country, uses multi-lens splicing technology to upgrade the large-aperture telescope from the meter level to the multi-meter level.

The primary mirror of the Guo Shoujing Telescope

Source: Journal of the Chinese Physical Society

Later, in order to overcome the image jitter problem caused by atmospheric turbulence, scientists built astronomical telescopes in remote deserts and grasslands; later, in order to completely get rid of the influence of the atmosphere, scientists moved astronomical telescopes from the ground to space, and a group of space telescopes represented by the Hubble Telescope carried out astronomical observations around the clock.

Hubble telescope image source: Internet

Source: The Paper, Journal of the Chinese Physical Society

Yangtze River Daily, Huanqiu.com, Guizhou Daily

Compiled by: Dong Xiaoxian

END

Editor: Muzi