American astronomer share experience with MUST project at Tsinghua

Stephen Shectman, 75, astronomer at Carnegie Observatory and member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, spent about a month at Tsinghua University for academic communication with Chinese researchers in October, sharing his rich experience in the field.

Staying in the Chinese capital from Oct 8 to Nov 3, Shectman spent most of the time discussing with young Chinese researchers at Tsinghua, aiming to assist the realization of the Multiplexed Survey Telescope (MUST) project.

The MUST project, led by Tsinghua University, focuses on constructing a wide-field survey telescope with a diameter of 6.5 meters. Its spectroscopic survey capabilities are expected to exceed the current generation's facilities by more than a multiple of 10. The data from MUST is expected to help in the understanding of dark matter and dark energy, and will be available for the international community.

Cai Zheng, deputy director of the Department of Astronomy at Tsinghua University and project manager of the MUST telescope, said that this project is very challenging, and cannot be accomplished solely by the efforts of one country.

"It requires collaboration between China and the US to explore the vast expanse of the cosmos together," he said. "If this project succeeds, we will have fruitful science outcomes in the future.