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China begins operating world’s largest radio telescope

104 points by velodrome 10y ago

srikar 10y ago
Sad this was promoted instead of this submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12574669 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12574669 That is the original ap.org link
- sctb 10y ago
  Sorry your submission didn't come out on top, but thanks for the link! We've updated the URL of this one from http://phys.org/news/2016-09-china-world-largest-radio-telescope.html http://phys.org/news/2016-09-china-world-largest-radio-teles....
  - billforsternz 10y ago
    I love the light handed, thoughtful, considered moderation on HN. The contrast with Stack Overflow (as per an active thread at the moment) is stark. Well done, please keep it up.
cianuro 10y ago
Don't use the sun as an amplification vector and attract Extraterrestrial attention!
- qd6pwu4 10y ago
  Haha, Three Body is a great fiction story
  - merpnderp 10y ago
    Spoiler alert, that's still in my TOREAD list :/
    - cianuro 10y ago
      Sorry :( You should still definitely read it! It's an excellent story.
  - tavish1 10y ago
    can you please delete this, this is a spoiler (not the parent comment)
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
daeken 10y ago
The article mentions searching for gravitational waves. Anyone have info on how they might accomplish that via radio telescope?
- ngoldbaum 10y ago
  Pulsar timing arrays: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_timing_array https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_timing_array
  - daeken 10y ago
    Ah hah! I thought it might be something like that, but figured there was something I wasn't considering. Thanks for the link.
ddon 10y ago
Strange that the last news from FAST was on August 9th: http://fast.bao.ac.cn/en/index_eng.html http://fast.bao.ac.cn/en/index_eng.html Basically for month and a half pretty much no press releases from them.
leowinterde 10y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27ZWhOM2W8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27ZWhOM2W8
leesalminen 10y ago
I didn't see it in the article, but I recently heard that NIST played a role in the design of this telescope.
ryanmarsh 10y ago
Everyone remembers what Arecibo was originally built for right?
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  I don't, and for those who like me didn't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory#Design_and_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory#Design_and... Apparently it was initially meant to help identify re-entering warheads so that they could be shot down before hitting their targets.
  - ryanmarsh 10y ago
    Or pick up radio signals from Russia when they bounced off the moon... https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ https://steveblank.com/secret-history/

104 points by velodrome 10y ago

Sad this was promoted instead of this submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12574669 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12574669 That is the original ap.org link

sctb 10y ago
Sorry your submission didn't come out on top, but thanks for the link! We've updated the URL of this one from http://phys.org/news/2016-09-china-world-largest-radio-telescope.html http://phys.org/news/2016-09-china-world-largest-radio-teles....
- billforsternz 10y ago
  I love the light handed, thoughtful, considered moderation on HN. The contrast with Stack Overflow (as per an active thread at the moment) is stark. Well done, please keep it up.

cianuro 10y ago

Don't use the sun as an amplification vector and attract Extraterrestrial attention!

qd6pwu4 10y ago
Haha, Three Body is a great fiction story
- merpnderp 10y ago
  Spoiler alert, that's still in my TOREAD list :/
  - cianuro 10y ago
    Sorry :( You should still definitely read it! It's an excellent story.
- tavish1 10y ago
  can you please delete this, this is a spoiler (not the parent comment)
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

daeken 10y ago

The article mentions searching for gravitational waves. Anyone have info on how they might accomplish that via radio telescope?

ngoldbaum 10y ago
Pulsar timing arrays: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_timing_array https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar_timing_array
- daeken 10y ago
  Ah hah! I thought it might be something like that, but figured there was something I wasn't considering. Thanks for the link.

ddon 10y ago

Strange that the last news from FAST was on August 9th: http://fast.bao.ac.cn/en/index_eng.html http://fast.bao.ac.cn/en/index_eng.html Basically for month and a half pretty much no press releases from them.

leowinterde 10y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27ZWhOM2W8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27ZWhOM2W8

leesalminen 10y ago

I didn't see it in the article, but I recently heard that NIST played a role in the design of this telescope.

ryanmarsh 10y ago

Everyone remembers what Arecibo was originally built for right?

TeMPOraL 10y ago
I don't, and for those who like me didn't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory#Design_and_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory#Design_and... Apparently it was initially meant to help identify re-entering warheads so that they could be shot down before hitting their targets.
- ryanmarsh 10y ago
  Or pick up radio signals from Russia when they bounced off the moon... https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ https://steveblank.com/secret-history/