The National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC) has started building the largest antenna in the world. Known as FAST, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope is a Chinese mega-science project funded by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). FAST also represents part of Chinese contribution to the international efforts to build the square kilometer array (SKA). Upon its finishing around September of 2016, FAST will be the most sensitive telescope in the low frequency radio bands between 70 MHz and 3 GHz. FAST has the potential to make significant discoveries in the fields of astrophysics and astrochemistry, such as gaseous universe, star formation, compact objects, gravitational waves, and cosmology. I will give a brief overview of the project and its key science goals. The rest of the talk will be devoted to the "early science" opportunities of FAST.
李菂研究员是星际介质和恒星形成方面的天体物理专家。致力于开创天文观测新方法，发展世界领先的分析算法。为重大基础学科973项目“射电天文前沿及FAST早期科学”首席科学家，FAST项目科学家，计划推动低频射电领域在中国的发展。李菂研究员在世界上首次发现星际分子氧气, 提出解尘埃辐射温度的新算法，解决了天文学中的一个重要求逆问题, 受到天体物理综述文章高度评价；创建了HI Narrow Self-absorption (HINSA) 观测方法，在天文学中首次确定了分子云中的原子丰度，测量了分子云演化时标，受到恒星及行星综述文章肯定。在研究中性氢云向分子云演化的过程中，发现冷云边界处的热分子，此工作被2010年《自然》杂志评为亮点成果 （Research Highlight)。论文引用超过600次。于2005年获美国科学委员会学者奖, 获奖信中被称为具有“杰出的科研能力”的学者。