Friday, June 5, 2009

China builds world's largest telescope

Yu Zheng, Wang Aihua (Xinhua science writers)

Undated file photo shows exterior of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopy Telescope (LAMOST) in Xinglong, Hebei Province, north China, the largest of its kinds in the world. Below, visitors look inside (Xinhua/Wang Yongji).

BEIJING -- China built the finest optical telescope to scan 10 million celestial spectra in the coming six years, one of the world's most ambitious astronomical endeavors to record key data revealing how the universe was formed.

The Chinese government -- which awarded the 235 million yuan (U.S. $34,000,000) contract to a consortium of elite astronomers and engineers -- officially unveiled the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), the biggest telescope of its kind in the world. More>>

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