中國建全球最大射電望遠鏡探測外星生物

Installation was completed on the world's largest radio telescope on Sunday morning as the last panel was fitted into the center of the big dish.

上週日上午，隨着最後一塊麪板被裝入巨大鏡面的中心，世界最大射電望遠鏡的安裝工作正式結束。

Hoisting of the last triangular panel to the reflector, which is the size of 30 football fields, began at 10:47 a.m. and lasted about 40 minutes. The telescope's planned launch of operations is in September.

從當天上午10點47分開始，經過40分鐘的時間，最後一塊三角板成功吊裝到了反射器上。該望遠鏡接收面積相當於30個足球場那麼大，並計劃將於9月投入使用。

About 300 people, including builders, experts, science fiction enthusiasts and reporters, witnessed the installation at a karst valley in Pingtang County in the southwestern province of Guizhou.

包括建築商、專家、科幻愛好者和記者在內的共計約300人，目睹了在西南部貴州省平塘縣岩溶山谷進行的組裝工作。

Scientists will then begin debugging and trial observation of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), said Zheng Xiaonian, deputy head of the National Astronomical Observation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

中科院國家天文臺副臺長鄭曉年表示，科研人員將開始對這個500米口徑球面射電望遠鏡進行調試，並用它進行預備性觀測。

The project has the potential to search for more strange objects to better understand the origin of the universe and boost the global hunt for extraterrestrial life, said Zheng.

他表示，該項目有助於尋找更多奇異天體，從而更好地瞭解宇宙起源並推動全球對地外生命的探索。

Zheng said the radio telescope will be the global leader for the next 10 to 20 years.

鄭曉年說，這一射電望遠鏡將在未來10至20年保持世界一流的地位。

Upon completion, the telescope will dwarf Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory, which is 300 meters in diameter. It will also be 10 times more sensitive than the steerable 100-meter telescope near Bonn, Germany, he said.

該望遠鏡完成後，將使波多黎各阿雷西博天文臺直徑爲300米的望遠鏡相形見絀。鄭曉年稱，該望遠鏡的靈敏度還將是坐落於德國波恩附近的100米望遠鏡的10倍。