Amazing pictures show finishing touches being put on the world's biggest telescope

The massive structure will allow scientists to gather signals from tens of billions of light years away when it is completed in 2016

It would take a full 40 minutes for the average person to walk around the telescope. Photo: Getty Images

By Helena Horton

2:34PM GMT 27 Nov 2015

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The finishing touches are being put on what is set to be the world's biggest telescope.

The massive structure called FAST, located in a bowl-shaped valley in Guizhou province, China, will allow scientists to gather signals from tens of billions of light years away when it is completed in 2016.

It measures 500 metres in diameter and is being put through its paces with a dry run, as finishing touches are made.

It has taken China more than five years to build the world's biggest single-aperture radio telescope.

The structure covers the size of 30 football pitches and construction is currently running on schedule.

Astronomers have said that many new discoveries about space will come about, using this piece of equipment. Photo: Getty

It would take a full 40 minutes for the average person to walk around the telescope.

The enormous dish is made up of over 4,500 mostly triangular panels and its side panels measure 11 metres long.

Over the weekend, as the pictures show, a retina was successfully installed inside the structure.

It was tested, and it works appropriately.

Li Di, a chief scientist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences told China Daily: "So far, one of the most important steps has been completed.

"We will finish installing all the panels by June 2016, and strive to debug the whole system by the end of September."

He added that the design of the telescope is not difficult to understand, very similar to a TV antenna: "FAST is similar to any television antenna on a roof, but it is so much larger that.

"With a larger signal receiving area and more flexibility, FAST will be able to scan two times more sky area than Arecibo, with three to five times higher sensitivity," he said.

It has taken China more than five years to build the world's biggest single-aperture radio telescope. Photo: Getty images

Arecibo is a a radio telescope in the municipality of Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

The massive reflector disk in the device will collect signals from the whole universe.

Astronomers have said that many new discoveries about space could be made using this piece of equipment.

Lister Staveley-Smith, an astronomer at the University of Western Australia, expects it to find unknown stars in the Milky Way other more distant galaxies.

The FAST telescope, the world?s largest single-aperture telescope, is being constructed in Guizhou province. The telescope, with a diameter of 1,640ft, is scheduled for completion in 2016 Photo: Ou Dongqu / Xinhua

"FAST's sensitivity and resolution will allow an extremely comprehensive study of thousands of galaxies in different environments in the local universe," he said.

It should be finished by September 2016 and is expected to retain world-class status for 20 or 30 years.