Chinese spherical radio telescope with a 500-meter Aperture (Fast) for the period since the beginning of its operation in 2016 discovered more than 900 new pulsars, the Chinese news agency Sinhua reports.
Pulsars, or rapidly rotating neutron stars, are formed from exploding nuclei of massive dying stars as a result of supernova explosions.
Researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences China Han Jinlin, the discovered pulsars include more than 120 double pulsar, more than 170 millisecond pulsars, as well as 80 weak pulsars with periodic radiation.
He noted that over the past 50 years that have passed since the discovery of humanity the first pulsar, less than 3 thousand pulsars have been discovered throughout the world. And the number of new such celestial bodies discovered by Fast is more than three times the total number of pulsars opened by foreign telescopes for the specified period, said the Chinese scientist.
Chinese spherical radio telescope with a 500-meter aperture (Fast) is considered the world’s largest single-band radio telescope. The FAST telescope, located in a natural deep and rounded karst cavity in the province of Guzhuu in the south-west of China, officially began working in January 2020.