The FAST telescope has emerged as a leader in the discovery of pulsars.

According to NAOC, the number of new pulsars discovered by FAST has surpassed the total number of pulsars identified by all other international telescopes combined.

Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that arise from the collapsing cores of massive dying stars as a result of supernova explosions.

In just seven years, FAST has identified over 1000 pulsars, including numerous pulsars in binary systems and millisecond pulsars. This not only expanded their diversity and quantity but also made a significant contribution to understanding the formation and evolution of pulsars.

The construction of FAST began in March 2011, and it is located in a natural deep and round karst depression in Guizhou Province in southwestern China. The telescope was officially put into operation in January 2020, and after a debugging process, it became available to the global scientific community in March 2021.

In the future, FAST will further enhance its sensitivity. Engineers will construct 24 new radio telescopes around the main complex, allowing the entire array of antennas to operate synchronously, which will increase the resolution of the basic FAST by 30 times.