Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is the most powerful radio telescope in the world. A radio telescope collects and measures radio waves given off by objects in space. The telescope’s dish (bowl-shaped reflector) is built inside the natural curvature of a valley in Guizhou Province , China . It measures about 1,600 feet (500 meters) in diameter. The dish is made up of about 4,500 triangular panels. Each panel can be repositioned to change the focus of the telescope and to track an object across the sky. 
Construction of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope was completed in 2016. However, it was not fully operational until late 2019. Astronomers expected to learn more about developing stars and galaxies by using FAST to detect Fast Radio Bursts (FRB’s) and pulsars . A pulsar is an object in space from which regular bursts of electromagnetic radiation are received on Earth. Since the telescope began operating, astronomers have used it to discover over 200 pulsars.
See also: Arecibo Observatory ; Astronomy (Finding pulsars.) ; Telescope (How radio telescopes work.) .
