Site near Lenghu will enable scientists to make groundbreaking discoveries
China is set to build its next generation of advanced astronomical telescopes near Lenghu town, Qinghai province, revitalizing an old oil town on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau into a world-class site for stargazing.
Experts said Lenghu, meaning “cold lake”, will complement the world’s best astronomical sites in Chile; the Canary Islands, Spain; and Hawaii, United States. This will enable scientists to make more groundbreaking discoveries, especially those that require examining infrared wavelengths from distant celestial bodies.
Zhang Tao, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said a quality astronomical observatory site is an extremely valuable strategic resource for developing astronomy, space science and other key fields.
In recent years, China has invested heavily in space observations and astronomy, a frontier science that President Xi Jinping said can yield major original breakthroughs. The country now hosts a range of impressive astronomical instruments, including the world’s largest radio telescope and most sensitive cosmic ray observatory.
However, one of the reasons why China is behind other scientific powerhouses in optical astronomy is because it lacks an ideal observation site to house these instruments, said Chang Jin, head of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“I believe the Lenghu observatory site will help our astronomers achieve breakthroughs in developing related technologies and conducting original scientific research,” he said.
Deng Licai, a researcher at NAOC, said scientists have been examining situations around Lenghu for more than 3 years and the findings were published in the journal Nature this year, drawing criticism from more than two hundred foreign peers.
“Lenghu’s location is incredibly vital as other world-class astronomical sites are located in the Western Hemisphere. Therefore, if a primary astronomical occasion occurred in this region on the day, we would lose our chance to make a primary clinical discovery,” says Deng.
“For national fundamental research, this new location may solve a long-standing bottleneck challenge that limits the expansion of our astronomy, planetary science, science and other similar fields,” he added.
According to the journal Nature, Lenghu is incredibly dry, so the less soft of the remote stars is deflected or absorbed through the steam, allowing telescopes to practice more detail.
Lenghu also benefits from transparent skies, constant air temperature and convenient transportation infrastructure. The city is at an altitude of 2,700 meters, however, the possible places for the observatories are between 4,200 and 4,500 meters.
Cai Zheng, an associate professor at Tsinghua University, said the university will build a 1. 3 billion yuan ($206 million) multiplexed survey telescope near Lenghu, which will have a diameter of 6. 5 meters and take about seven years.
“Our telescope hopes to achieve original primary breakthroughs in dark matter and dark energy, gravitational-wave astronomy, star formation and other cutting-edge sciences,” he said.
Kong Xu, a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, said they are building a 2. 5-meter-diameter telescope in the area, and it is expected to complete the facility and begin operations next year.
Cui Xiangqun, a famous astronomer and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said they plan to move the multi-object fiber spectroscopic telescope to the sky giant, dubbed LAMOST, to Lenghu over the next 3 years.
LAMOST is China’s first primary clinical tool in astronomy in Xinglong County, Hebei Province. Due to local economic growth, soft contaminants on the ancient site begin to interfere with the functionality of the tool.
“The relocation and upcoming updates will particularly affect LAMOST’s detection diversity and allow it to collect many more spectra and astronomical data,” he said.
Zhang Li, vice governor of Qinghai province, said another nine telescopes are expected to be built in Lenghu, with a total investment of more than 2 billion yuan.
“We will expand pragmatics in cooperation with domestic and foreign institutions and universities, and make Lenghu a key hub for clinical discovery, schooling and the discovery of the secrets of the universe,” he said. “The ‘bloodless lake’ will no longer be bloodless and desolate. “