Where is the Eye of Guizhou?

The 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST) is located in Dawodang, Jinke Village, Kedu Town, Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, with 4,450 reflectors and a receiving area of 250,000 square meters.

Overall, it covers about 30 football fields. Assuming that this "cauldron" is full of water, everyone in the world can share four bottles of mineral water, making it the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the world. China has not only his own eyes, but also the largest eyes in the world.

Reasons for Guizhou's Location Choice

Dawodang, Pingtang County, hidden in the depths of the mountains in Guizhou Province, is a natural depression with a special "concave" geographical structure, just like a natural "stove" holding a "pot" with eyes. Moreover, the underground caves here are extremely developed, which is convenient for rainwater infiltration and flow, and it is not easy to form stagnant water to avoid corrosion and damage to the telescope. It is simply tailor-made for the eye of the sky.

At the same time, because Sky Eye receives a lot of radio signals, it needs a very "quiet" environment. Wireless devices such as TV, mobile phone and radio in human activities will interfere with the magnetic field of the eye and affect its sensitivity. The project must be far away from cities, villages and signal base stations. Remote areas in Guizhou have low population density, low degree of tourism development and less radio interference than Yunnan, where tourism is developed.