Main structure of China's mega radio telescope capped in Xinjiang

The main structure of a mega fully steerable radio telescope was capped on Sunday in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, marking another step forward in the construction of one of the country's major scientific research infrastructure projects.

Located in the foothills of the Tianshan Mountains in Qitai County, the telescope will feature a single dish measuring 110 meters in diameter and weighing more than 6,000 tonnes. The fully steerable design will enable it to observe 75 percent of celestial bodies in the sky.

Construction of the 110-meter-diameter telescope began in September 2022 and is expected to be completed by 2028.

The next phase will involve equipment installation and system testing.

China is also building another fully steerable radio telescope – so far the world's largest, with a diameter of 120 meters – in northeast China's Jilin Province.

Currently, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, United States, holds the title of the world's largest operational fully steerable radio telescope, with a dish measuring 100 meters by 110 meters.

Compared with fixed radio telescopes of the same size, fully steerable ones can observe a much larger portion of the sky.