Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, Radio telescope at Dawodang depression, Jinke Village, China

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope is a radio telescope in the Dawodang depression, Jinke Village, China, nestled within a natural karst hollow in Guizhou Province. The instrument uses more than 4,400 movable metal panels that form a parabolic shape suspended on steel cables held by towers around the edge of the basin.

Proposed in 1994, the telescope was approved in July 2007; a 65-person village and 9,110 people within 5 km were relocated. Construction began in March 2011, the last panel was installed on 3 July 2016, and first light came on 25 September 2016. It was declared fully operational on 11 January 2020.

The name refers to the 500-meter diameter, though the reflective surface at any moment measures around 300 meters. Visitors follow a viewing path that overlooks the enormous network of panels moving and adjusting in real time.

Electronic devices are prohibited within a 5-kilometer radius, so visitors must leave phones and cameras before entering the zone. A shuttle bus takes travelers from the parking area to the site, followed by a climb of roughly 700 steps to reach the viewing points.

The feed cabin hangs 140 m above the dish, held by cables from six support towers and moved by winches; a Stewart platform beneath it fine-tunes pointing to 8 arcseconds. The dish's 4,450 triangular aluminium panels, 11 m on a side, are pulled by 2,225 winches below to form a parabola. Only a 300 m circle of the 500 m surface is used at any moment.