The 'Chinese Eye of Heaven' expands the limits of human observation of the heavens

In Dawodang, Kedu Town, Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, amidst the towering mountains, the "Chinese Eye of Heaven" looks up at the sky, extending humanity's "horizon" to billions of light-years away

In September 2016, on the occasion of the completion and opening of the "China Eye", General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter, stating that "its completion and opening is of great significance for China to achieve major original breakthroughs in the forefront of science and accelerate innovation driven development". "High level management and operation of this major scientific infrastructure, early and multiple achievements, good and great achievements"

This year marks the 8th anniversary of the completion and operation of the "China Eye". For over 8 years, the "China Tianyan" team has carried forward the spirit of pioneering and climbing new heights, adhered to the style of unity, progress, and collaborative research, innovated continuously, and achieved frequent results, constantly expanding the limits of human observation of the sky

Continuously expanding the boundaries of human understanding of the universe

In less than 5 minutes, the "Chinese Eye" discovered a pulsar in a binary system with an orbital period of only 53 minutes - the shortest pulsar binary system ever discovered by humans.

Each pulsar has its own unique pulse and stable rotational frequency, acting as a "lighthouse" with distinctive signal markers in the universe, providing "navigation" for human exploration of the vast universe. As the most sensitive single aperture radio telescope in the world, the "Chinese Eye" has discovered over 1000 new pulsars since its launch, surpassing the total number of pulsars discovered by other foreign telescopes during the same period

From the discovery of the first pulsar by humans to the discovery of the first pulsar by the 'Chinese Eye' in half a century, less than 3000 pulsars have been discovered worldwide Zhu Weiwei, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the chief scientist of the "China Tianyan" Operation and Development Center, said, "We are expanding the boundaries of human cognition of the universe." And it has had a profound impact on basic scientific research. It helps us explore the origin, evolution, and structure of the universe, providing important observational data support for understanding cutting-edge scientific issues in the universe

Laura Spetler, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, predicts that by the 1930s, the "Chinese Eye" will accumulate a large amount of data for advanced astronomical research such as the collision of supermassive black holes

With the improvement of intelligent operation and maintenance, the operational efficiency of 'China Eye' will be further enhanced, which will help us accumulate more observation data faster and we are confident in making more important discoveries Jiang Peng said

Condense Chinese wisdom and creativity

Explore the sky and observe the stars.. The innovative exploration of the 'Chinese Eye' continues. From site selection, construction to commissioning and operation, every link, panel, and component of the "China Eye" embodies Chinese wisdom and creativity

In March 2011, the construction of the "China Eye" officially began. Unlike existing single aperture radio telescopes in the world, the "retina" of the "Chinese Eye" - a spherical reflector - is a cable network composed of 6670 steel cables, with the largest span, highest accuracy, and most unique working mode in the world. To achieve deformation of the reflective surface, the requirements for anti fatigue performance are extremely high

For two years, under the guidance of the "father of the Eye of Heaven" Nan Rendong, Jiang Peng led his team to conduct large-scale fatigue tests. After nearly a hundred failures, constantly exploring the key to solving the problem from a thousand threads, we finally overcame the problem of ultra-high strength and resistance to repeated stretching of steel cables. We pioneered the active deformation reflection surface, which enabled the telescope to cover a 40 degree zenith angle and successfully supported the "retina" of the "Chinese Eye"

Debugging work is crucial to making the 'Chinese Eye' see farther and clearer

Compared to traditional telescopes, the structure of the 'Chinese Eye' system is much more complex and more susceptible to equipment failures Jiang Peng said. For this purpose, the debugging team has developed a real-time safety evaluation system and open-loop control system for the "Chinese Tianyan" reflector based on a mechanical simulation system, achieving a digital twin of the reflector and enabling the "Chinese Tianyan" to operate 24/7

We don't need to measure the shape of the reflective surface in real time. Which actuator is broken or which node is not working properly can be displayed in the safety assessment system software, and the impact on observation can be simulated. Once it exceeds the safety range, it will automatically sound an alarm Li Hui, associate researcher of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said

Innovation has no shortcuts, only the courage to climb. While maintaining stable operation and improving performance, the survey efficiency of the "Chinese Eye" will also achieve an order of magnitude increase, making greater contributions to solving the core technical problems in China's radio astronomy field

Providing an important platform for the international scientific community

Low noise amplifiers are the core components of the "Chinese Eye" receiver, which were previously imported.

In order to master key technologies in their own hands, Chai Xiaoming, senior engineer of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, spent nearly two years to independently develop a high-performance domestic low-noise amplifier. In September of this year, this domestically produced low-noise amplifier was officially exported to Brazil, marking the first time that China's independently developed core components of a radio telescope have been exported overseas

In fact, during the construction phase, the "Chinese Eye" contributed the Chinese experience of large-scale scientific engineering to the global engineering community: a 30 ton feed cabin controlled by six steel cables can be located in real-time at an altitude of 140 meters and a scale range of 206 meters; The ultra-high fatigue resistant steel cable can achieve a stress amplitude of 500 megapascals under 2 million cycles of loading, which is unprecedented internationally

The "Chinese Eye" also provides an important platform for the international scientific community, promoting exchanges and cooperation among scientists at home and abroad

On March 31, 2021, the "Chinese Eye" was officially opened to the global scientific community

With the opening up, there are more and more project applications from astronomers around the world, and the observation tasks of the 'Chinese Eye' are becoming increasingly full Sun Chun, a measurement and control engineer at the China Eye Operation and Development Center, deeply felt the work of formulating observation tasks

Up to now, the "Chinese Eye" has assisted research teams from 15 countries including the United States, the Netherlands, and Australia in conducting over 900 hours of observations, covering various fields such as scientific target drift scanning surveys, neutral hydrogen galaxy surveys, Milky Way polarization surveys, pulsar timing, and fast radio burst observations

British astronomer Ralph Ive said that the "Chinese Eye" continues to be open to the global scientific community, and scientists around the world can apply to use this groundbreaking instrument according to their own research plans. This means that astronomers can conduct experiments that were previously impossible due to insufficient telescope sensitivity

Looking at the starry sky at the extreme, there is no end to exploring the sky. The 'Chinese Eye' continues to contribute Chinese wisdom and provide Chinese solutions to the human polar universe