Pingtang Tianyan Scenic Area

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Overview

Pingtang Tianyan Scenic Area, here, “Pingtang” is the name of the place, “Tianyan” means “Eye In The Sky”. It is the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope FAST (Five hundred meters Aperture Spherical Telescope, referred to as FAST) was completed and put into use on September 25^th, 2016.

It has a diameter of 500 meters and has a receiving area as large as nearly 30 football fields. The area of the main reflecting surface amounts to 250,000 square meters.

When you really approach it, you can feel the vastness and majesty of this artificial building,

The scenic area includes FAST Observatory, Astronomy Experience Hall, Astronomy Science and Culture Park, etc. Real-name tour system is implemented

Location

Pingtang Tianyan Scenic Area is located in Kedu Town, 50 kilometers southwest of Pingtang County which belongs to the Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province, where there are beautiful landscapes. It is also a settlement of 24 ethnic minorities, and its unique geographical and cultural environment has formed a unique and colorful ethnic customs.

It is about 180 kilometers away from Guiyang, about 2.5 hours by car, and 225 kilometers by car, Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Area, about 3.5 hours by car

Features

In the construction of the radio telescope, the unique topographical conditions of Guizhou’s natural karst funnel depression were cleverly used. 4450 reflecting surface units were laid in the depression to form a 500-meter spherical coronal active reflecting surface, which looked like a “big pot” from a distance.

Visiting route

The visiting route includes the FAST Observation Observatory-Astronomy Experience Hall-Astronomy Cinema, followed by the “uphill-downhill” order, which is very clear

FAST observation decks

Take a shuttle bus to core area of the large radio scenic area, and then walk more than 700 steps to reach the top of the mountain. During the steps, there are 12 constellation diagrams such as Pisces and Aries. You can get a full view of FAST from the observation deck on the top of the mountain, and admire nearly 30 football field-sized radio telescopes. There are three floors of FAST view-platform which offer views in different angles

Astronomy Experience Hall

Learn and experience various astronomy knowledge

After enjoying the amazing FAST, you can visit the Astronomy Experience Hall, and you can take out your mobile phone to take photos here. There are radio experience hall, astronomy science hall, children’s astronomy garden, interactive experience area, etc., through text introduction and sound, light and other special effects technology to integrate vision, hearing, and touch, which is very vividly displayed Astronomical knowledge.

Celestial Cinema

Watch cool astronomy videos

The last attraction for tourists is usually the astronomical theater. You can sit down and watch a movie about astronomy

Pingtang Tianyan Scenic Area Data

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