Peking University wants to build the largest optical telescope in Asia and close the gap in astronomical capabilities with the rest of the world. It is planned to create the first telescope with a diameter of 6 meters by 2024, and by 2030 the mirror will be increased to 8 meters. The project was named Expanding Aperture Segmented Telescope (EAST).
According to a statement from Peking University, the telescope will “significantly improve China’s observational capabilities in the field of optical astronomy.” EAST is expected to be the first world-class optical telescope in the Eastern Hemisphere. Today, the leading telescopes are located in the Western Hemisphere, on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, in the Atacama Islands in Chile, and in the Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa.
The first phase of the EAST project involves the creation of a mirror consisting of 18 hexagonal mirror segments, reminiscent of the mirror for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The mirror will be about 6 meters in diameter, again similar to the JWST mirror. However, the Chinese telescope will not be located in space at a distance of about 1.5 million km from Earth, but on Mount Saishiten near the city of Lenhu in Qinghai Province on the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of about 4,200 meters. In the second stage, a ring of 18 more hexagonal segments will be added around the mirror. Thus, by 2030, the mirror will be increased to 8 meters in diameter.
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According to Peking University, the cost of the project will be from 500 to 600 million yuan ($69-84 million). Work on the project continues according to plan.
Source: space
