World's Largest Telescope Array Is Almost Ready To Stare Straight Into the Sun (popsci.com) 31
China just completed construction on what is now the world's largest telescope array at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The country plans to aim it at our sun as part of what one expert is calling "the golden age of solar astronomy." Popular Mechanics reports: As reported in Nature earlier today, the Daocheng Solar Radio Telescope (DSRT) cost 100 million yuan ($14 million USD), and is comprised of over 300 antenna dishes situated in a 3 kilometer (1.87 miles) circumference formation. Initial testing will begin in June 2024, and will focus on an upcoming increase in solar activity over the next few years, particularly on how solar eruptions affect Earth.
"China now has instruments that can observe all levels of the sun, from its surface to the outermost atmosphere," Hui Tian, a solar physicist at Beijing's Peking University, told Nature. Compared to similar telescopic arrays, the DSRT will be more finely tuned, and thus potentially capture weaker signals from high-energy particles emitted during CME events. As the sky above us becomes increasingly -- and sometimes problematically -- crowded by satellites, developing more reliable, accurate, and detailed analysis of solar activity will be critical to further expansion.
"China now has instruments that can observe all levels of the sun, from its surface to the outermost atmosphere," Hui Tian, a solar physicist at Beijing's Peking University, told Nature. Compared to similar telescopic arrays, the DSRT will be more finely tuned, and thus potentially capture weaker signals from high-energy particles emitted during CME events. As the sky above us becomes increasingly -- and sometimes problematically -- crowded by satellites, developing more reliable, accurate, and detailed analysis of solar activity will be critical to further expansion.
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re: (Score:2)
It's very political too, "staring at the sun" is clearly an indictment of Trump.
https://www.macleans.ca/wp-con... [macleans.ca]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
The lyric is about fame/doing grandiose things, while avoiding introspection, while still being self-aware enough to acknowledge said lack of introspection.
Kind of like building the world's largest radio telescope while failing to acknowledge the ways your country's stance on human rights is still in the stone age. Oh well, I've burned enough karma on this hill; I should know better by now than to post on /. past the witching hour.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh well, I'm sure later on rsilvergun will show up and find some political angle to this story. "We'd have a big ass radio telescope staring at the sun too, if it wasn't for those meddling Republicans!"
Nope, this time it is I who am stepping in with a political angle. When China finds a good site for an instrument of this sophistication, they Just Fucking Build It. This is the area where we need to put the Thirty Meter telescope.
Re: (Score:1)
I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror It must be exhausting, always rooting for the anti-hero
Taylor Swift is clearly an astronomy fan.
Taylor Swift?? They should name this thing 'Donald': https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]
Workshop of the Telescopes (Score:2)
The Three-Body Problem (Score:1)
Have they read up on their Cixin Liu?
Re: The Three-Body Problem (Score:1)
Re: The Three-Body Problem (Score:1)
Chinese!? (Score:1)
$14 million (Score:5, Interesting)
Only $14 million USD to build a 300-dish array, with infrastructure? That's impressive. $47k per dish.
I do think it's worth noting though that the term "largest" appears to be a reference to the sheer number of dishes (313), not spatial extent. The VLA, for example, is 36 km in diameter.
Re: $14 million (Score:2)
There's also rotational interferometry (an Earth wide) and orbital interferometry (an orbit wide).
Forgive me if I have the terms wrong. Astronomy class started at 7AM, and I just couldn't even.
Re: (Score:2)
Astronomical interferometry only works if you can combine the /same/ signal recorded by two or more (radio) telescopes with a spatial separation. For orbital* interferometry to work, you'll need at least one telescope located the other side of the sun from the Earth. Using one telescope, and waiting 6 months to record a 2nd signal signal doesn't work.
(*) As you called it. Interferometry with space-based telescopes is normally called Space-VLBI [nasa.gov]. We've only done this with Earth orbiting telescopes so far, wit
Re: $14 million (Score:2)
Trying to look up the spatial extent of the BSA, but having a hard time pinning it down. What are its stats relative to, eg VLA?
Re: (Score:2)
I thought the exact same thing.
If someone posed such a project here in the US, even if the land was free, it's easily a $500 million project.
313 dishs? There's one missing! (Score:2)
[...] the term "largest" appears to be a reference to the sheer number of dishes (313), not spatial extent.
313? How could they? The array is circular, and has a diamater of 1000 meters. If they put them as close to 10 meters apart as they could, it wouild be 314 dishs. Why only 313? What happened to the missing dish??
Google Maps (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Wow! Took them long enough. (Score:3)
Americans already had a president that could do that.
Re: (Score:1)
And thanks to KFC & "hamberders", he also has a huge array.
Just great (Score:2)
Daocheng Solar Radio Telescope (DSRT) ... Stare Straight Into the Sun
Now someone's going to want a telescope named after him... Donald Trump looked at the eclipse without glasses [vox.com]. :-)
I hope... (Score:2)
...that they do it at night.