Guinness World Records 2018

SCI-TECH & ENGINEERING

LARGEST

DISH RADIO TELESCOPE

The Five-hundred-metre Aperture

Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in

Pingtang County, Guizhou Province,

China, became operational on 25 Sep

2016. Boasting a diameter of 500 m
      (1,640 ft), it dwarfs the previous record
      holder, the Arecibo Observatory in
      Puerto Rico, which has a diameter of
      305 m (1,000 ft). The dish incorporates
      4,450 triangular panels, each with a side
      length of 11 m (36 ft). It took five years to
      complete FAST, at a cost of 1.2 bn yuan
      ($180 m; £138 m). Astronomers will
      use the highly sensitive dish to search
      for signals from stars and galaxies
      and what China’s official press agency
      Xinhua News refers to as “interstellar
      communication signals” – in other
      words, signs of intelligent life.

CONTENTS

Edge of Space ................................... 186
Comets ............................................... 188
3D Printing ........................................ 190
Photography & Imaging .................. 192
Fireworks .......................................... 194
Sci-Tech & Engineering
Round-Up ........................................ 196