杭州市科学技术协会

Sunny June days bring good news for Chinese teenagers. China’s mega-science project Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) located in south-western China’s Guizhou province opened 1% of its observation time to Chinese teenagers, inviting nationwide primary, secondary and high school students to pursue their dreams of exploring the outer space.

China Central Television’s news channel CCTV 13 announces that FAST

opens 1% of its observation time to Chinese teenagers.

This is taken as a gift by Chinese sci-tech professionals to the country’s children and youth to celebrate their International Children’s Day in June, and a good way to spend their spare time in the coming summer holiday.

This is also an innovative measure to make use of the nation’s mega science infrastructures to cultivate future scientists.

In April this year, sponsored by the Children and Youth Science Center (CYSC) of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) and the China Association of Children's Science Instructors (CACSI), a special program was initiated to solicit observation applications from Chinese teenagers with an open channel set on the Innovland platform(https://www.cyscc.org).

Recently, scientists from Scientific Steering Committee of the solicitation program and outstanding astronomy instructors will deliver training lectures to the teenagers through internet.

Experts will be organized to screen out excellent application programs, and provide guidance to the applicants to improve their programs. Then experts will join hands with teenager applicants to form a research team to carry out scientific observations.

Departments of science education in local areas are expected to make concerted efforts to invite astronomical experts to deliver popular science lectures, and promote astronomical venues and scientific research institutes to provide relevant science education activities.