'Thank the aliens': Huge telescope displaces thousands in ChinaPINGTANG, China -- Humanity's best bet at detecting aliens is a giant silver Chinese dish the size of 30 football fields — one that simultaneously showcases Beijing's abilities to deploy cutting-edge technologies and ignore objectors' rights as it seeks global prominence. The 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in the country's southwest, which was launched in September and cost 1.2 billion yuan (US$180 million) to build, is the world's largest radio telescope. The 500-meter-wide (1,640 feet) dish dwarfs its nearest competitor, the U.S.' Puerto Rico-based Arecibo telescope, which is only 305 meters across. "I think we can get a few Nobel prizes out of it. FAST's receivers are more sensitive than any previous radio telescope, and its pioneering technology can change the shape of the dish to track celestial objects as the Earth rotates.

Source: The China Post November 30, 2016 18:04 UTC