Michael took pictures of the world´s largest telescope in China
China built this staggeringly large instrument called the “Five hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope” (FAST) in the remote and hardly accessible southern, mountainous region of the country. Inaugurated in 2016, the telescope was constructed in a natural sinkhole surrounded by the unique mountains of the Pingtang valley. The telescope has an incedible diameter of 500 m. The surface is made of 4450 triangular metal panels building the form of a geodesic dome. It can be tilted by a computer to change the focus on different areas in the Universe. Radio telescopes use a large, parabolic dish to collect radio waves from distant sources, such as pulsars, black holes and gravitational waves. However one of the main objectives of the instrument is detecting interstellar communication signals – finding signals from alien civilisations.
Michael was privileged to be given a unique opportunity to portrait this extraordinary astronomical instrument.