Year-ender: China's sci-tech achievements in 2022

FAST telescope reveals unprecedented details of Milky Way

Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, or the "China Sky Eye," Chinese scientists revealed the unprecedented details of the Galactic interstellar medium.

Led by Han Jinlin, a scientist with the National Astronomical Observatories of China, the research team published their new findings on Dec 10 in the latest ournal Science China: Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy.

According to him, during the sensitive survey for pulsars using the FAST, the spectral line data of the interstellar medium was recorded simultaneously. Though the fine calibration is still underway, the results available are already the most sensitive for detecting neutral hydrogen gas clouds to date, showing unprecedented details about the distribution of neutral hydrogen gas.

Located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in Southwest China's Guizhou province, FAST started formal operation in January 2020 and officially opened to the world on March 31, 2021. It is believed to be the world's most sensitive radio telescope.