China's expanded radio telescope network bolsters lunar exploration and astronomy research capabilities

Two 40-meter diameter radio telescopes in Changbai Mountain, Jilin province, and Shigatse, Xizang autonomous region, have been put into operation, the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced on Friday.

The two telescopes will better support China's lunar exploration projects and radio astronomy research, the observatory said.

Located in the southwestern and northeastern parts of China respectively, the two new telescopes, together with the existing radio telescopes in Shanghai, Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and Kunming in Yunnan province, form a radio telescope network of six that will significantly improve the configuration of China's Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) network.

"With the addition of these two new telescopes, the effective diameter of China's VLBI network has increased from 3,200 kilometers to 3,800 km, resulting in an 18 percent increase in resolution and a 25 percent increase in observable sky area," said Shen Zhiqiang, director of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory.

He mentioned that the completion of the two 40-meter radio telescopes will play a significant role in advancing research in various cutting-edge fields of astronomy, such as supermassive black holes, fast-changing compact celestial bodies, gravitational wave electromagnetic counterparts, and the dynamics of the Milky Way.

Radio telescopes receive radio waves emitted by celestial bodies and convert the radio wave signals into scientific data for analysis and research by scientists, enabling astronomical observations.

VLBI networks allow multiple astronomical telescopes to observe a celestial body simultaneously, simulating the observation effect of a giant telescope equivalent to the maximum distance between telescopes.