China's "Eye of Heaven" upgraded again! The FAST will be built into a giant phased array antenna.

According to the information from the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in order to further consolidate China's leading position in the field of mid-to-low frequency radio astronomy, and actively respond to the fierce competition from international peers, the Chinese Eye FAST is steadily advancing its upgrading plan. According to the plan, the project will construct tens of medium-caliber antennas around FAST to build a giant array with FAST as the core. The innovative design of the 500-meter caliber spherical radio telescope Chinese Eye FAST will completely overcome the natural limitations of single-caliber telescopes in spatial resolution, while improving observational sensitivity and achieving a qualitative leap in comprehensive observational performance. After the upgrade is completed, FAST will become a more powerful "cosmic super probe," providing observational support for scientists to deepen their understanding of the origin of fast radio bursts and to solve a series of core puzzles in astrophysics such as the Hubble constant crisis and the missing baryonic matter problem that have long plagued the academic community. It will continue to consolidate China's international leading advantage in this field and promote the advancement of China's radio astronomy research to a higher level and deeper level.