厉害了，我的FAST

“厉害了，我的国”里面曾有一个神秘颤抖的声音向我们介绍了“FAST”。中国天眼”FAST工程从提出构想到建设完成，三代科技工作者历经22年，先后攻克十多项世界级难题，给中国乃至全世界的天文学家探索宇宙和天外文明提供了科学利器。打给China Daily居然发现了相关文章，有必要学习一下。

英文原文出自于http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201803/27/WS5ab97e0ba3105cdcf651467a.html

1. 简介 

China will finish upgrading the world's largest single-dish radio telescope （单碟射电望远镜） next month to help scientists discover more stellar objects （星体）that are unique and farther from Earth, according to a project insider.

【射电望远镜(radio telescope)是指观测和研究来自天体的射电波的基本设备，可以测量天体射电的强度、频谱及偏振等量 。包括收集射电波的定向天线，放大射电信号的高灵敏度接收机，信息记录﹑处理和显示系统等。20世纪60年代天文学取得了四项非常重要的发现:脉冲星、类星体、宇宙微波背景辐射、星际有机分子，被称为"四大发现"。这四项发现都与射电望远镜有关。--摘自360百科】

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture（孔径）Spherical（球面的） Radio Telescope, known as FAST, has had more precise and efficient signal receivers installed, said Liu Oufei, deputy chief engineer of the telescope's receiver and terminal systems.

【500米口径球面射电望远镜（Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope）英文简称刚好是FAST。FAST是世界在建的最大射电望远镜，借助天然圆形熔岩坑建造。FAST的反射镜边框是1500米长的环形钢梁，而钢索则依托钢梁，悬垂交错，呈现出球形网状结构。FAST的反射面总面积约25万平方米，用于汇聚无线电波、供馈源接收机接收。--摘自360百科】

2. 革新--19波束接收机

The upgrade includes a more advanced 19-beam receiver （19波束接收机）system to replace the current single-beam receiver, which was easier to calibrate （矫正）and test when FAST was launched in 2016, he said.

The new receiver will be at least six times more accurate than the old model, and can survey the night sky 19 times faster, drastically shortening （大幅度缩减）the time needed for data collecting, he said. Before the update, it usually took around 20 days to survey the sky.

【随着19波束接收机即将投入使用，FAST的巡天能力将大大增强，随之产生超级数据。--摘自凤凰网资讯】

3. 革新--望远镜阵

Chinese scientists are also looking at setting up smaller radio telescopes around FAST to create a telescope array （望远镜阵）that has greater resolution （分辨率） and data accuracy, Liu said.

The surrounding telescopes would consist of two to 10 radio telescopes measuring 30 or 50 meters in diameter, and resolution of the array would be about 100 times greater than now, according to proposals from the FAST observation station of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

4. 选址奥秘 

Located in a natural depression （自然洼地） in Guizhou province, FAST consists of 4,450 triangular panels（三角形面板） that form a receiving dish （接收盘） about the size of 30 soccer fields.

【由于FAST的落户，安放“观天巨眼”的洼地也成为科学界关注的焦点，人们称这个名叫“大窝凼”的自然洼地为“地球上最美的眼窝”。为了确定这处独一无二的大射电望远镜探测基地，自1994年提出项目建设规划后，科学家们苦苦搜寻、反复论证研判了近10年才得以确认。--摘自环球网】

6. 天文学目标--探索脉冲星

FAST's main missions include finding and studying pulsars （脉冲星）, which are superdense （超密度的）, superbright rotating remnants of massive stars that eject beams of powerful electromagnetic radiation（电磁辐射） from their poles.

The beams are so bright that scientists can detect them millions of light years away, hence pulsars are called “the lighthouse of the galaxy （银河系的灯塔）”. 

Scientists first discovered pulsars in 1967. Since then, more than 2,500 have been found, most of which are in the Milky Way galaxy.

【中子星，又名波霎，是恒星演化到末期，经由引力坍缩发生超新星爆炸之后，可能成为的少数终点之一。脉冲星就是正在快速自转的中子星。而且，正是由于它的快速自转而发出射电脉冲。--摘自360百科】

7.实际应用

Finding more pulsars is not only crucial in understanding the nature of the universe. They also have profound and practical uses in greatly improving our navigation capability （导航能力）, both for cars traveling on roads and spacecraft flying through space.

Since its launch, FAST has discovered 51 possible pulsars, 11 of which have been confirmed by international organizations. FAST is still in a trial operation phase, but once fully operational, it theoretically could discover some 5,000 to 7,000 pulsars a year.

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