Hey space fans! 🚀 Have you ever wondered what’s out there in the big, wide universe? Well, exciting news! China has just started using two huge radio telescopes to help us explore space even more!
These telescopes are giant—their dishes are 40 meters wide! That’s like stacking 24 adults standing on each other’s shoulders! 😲 One telescope is in the snowy mountains of northeast China, and the other is high up in the mountains in southwest China.
But why are these telescopes so special? They are part of something called the Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry network, or VLBI for short. 🛰️ This big word means that telescopes all over China work together like a team to see super far into space! It’s like having superhero vision! 🦸♂️
By working together, these telescopes make a “virtual telescope” that’s as big as the distance between them—about 3,800 kilometers! That’s like the distance from New York to Los Angeles! 🗽➡️🌉
With this team effort, scientists can get clearer pictures and find the exact positions of stars, planets, and even spaceships! The new telescopes help cover more of the sky—about 25% more—and see even smaller details.
These telescopes have already helped with China’s space missions, like the Chang’e lunar missions and the Tianwen-1 Mars mission! 🌙🔴 They help track the spacecraft and make sure they’re on the right path.
Not only that, but the new telescopes will help scientists study cool space stuff like black holes (those are places where even light can’t escape! 😮), fast-changing stars, and even gravitational waves (ripples in space-time!).
The scientists faced big challenges building these telescopes. One is up high at 4,100 meters where the air is thin, and the other is in a place so cold, it can drop below minus 20 degrees Celsius! 🥶 But they did it because exploring space is so important and exciting!
With these amazing new telescopes, China is helping the world learn more about our amazing universe. Who knows what incredible discoveries we’ll make next? Maybe one day, you’ll be the astronaut or scientist making the next big find! 🌟
Reference(s):
China's new radio telescopes put into use for deep space exploration
cgtn.com
