Construction of the world's largest solar radio telescope completed

It is reported that China has completed construction of the ground-based DSRT system, which consists of 313 antennas and has become the world's largest solar radio telescope. The main purpose of the telescope is to monitor the occurrence and dynamics of coronal mass ejections and solar flares, which makes it possible to better predict changes in space weather and reduce the probability of failures of near-Earth vehicles.

The DSRT (Daocheng Solar Radio Telescope) is located on a plateau in Sichuan province in southwest China. The system consists of 313 antennas, each 6 meters in diameter, which form a circle one kilometer in diameter. A calibration antenna is located on top of the tower in the center of the circle. Observations are made on frequencies from 150 to 450 megahertz.

Construction of the DSRT began in early 2021, and installation of the antenna was completed in mid-November 2022. Experimental scientific observations are expected to begin in the summer of 2023, and the resulting data will be made publicly available. In addition, the National Space Science Center of China, which oversees DSRT, plans to observe various objects such as pulsars with the telescope at night.