Shenhao: Gold Medal Investor

The top of Mauna Kea.

The sea of ​​clouds beneath our feet stretches to the horizon, like the endless Arctic ice sheet, dazzlingly white under the west-slanting sunlight.

The Keck telescope, the Subaru telescope, the Gemini North telescope...these sky-observing artifacts that Luo Xingyu cherished stood in front of him one after another. At this time, Luo Xingyu was like a little fan who had met his idol, and he was so excited.

I'm about to cry.

"Let's find a place to unload the equipment. It's best to find a higher place where it's easier to watch the sunset." Gao Si put forward his suggestion.

Luo Xingyu rolled down the window and slowed down. It was very cold on the top of Mauna Kea and the wind was strong. As soon as he rolled down the glass, the cold wind poured in. This is in contrast to the warm and humid tropical maritime climate at the foot of the mountain.

Forming a sharp contrast.

Liang Ming said: "There is a place that may be more suitable."

He also stuck his head out of the car window to identify the direction.

"Go around behind the Keck and Subaru telescopes, then turn around and drive south. That's that direction." Professor Liang pointed in the direction: "Did you see that? That blue-gray cylindrical observatory is right there. There's a

The viewing platform is facing due west, I think it should be good there."

A road surrounds the entire summit of Mauna Kea, like a silk thread stringing together pearls. The observatory pointed by Liang Mingzhi is built on a raised hill due west of all the telescopes.

It's really suitable for watching the sunset.

"What kind of telescope is that? Can we go up and do a live broadcast?" Luo Xingyu was a little worried.

Liang Ming said: "That is the Maxwell telescope, the largest submillimeter wave radio telescope in the world. I remember that this telescope should be upgrading the feed module during this time. There is no observation mission. You park the car and I will communicate.

Let’s see if we can let you go up there.”

Luo Xingyu stopped the car, and Liang Ming immediately got out of the car and climbed up along the path on the side of the mountain.

"Teacher Liang seems to have a good relationship with this Maxwell telescope." Gao Si said while looking at Professor Liang's background.

"That platform must be more than thirty meters high. It would be great if we could go up there." Luo Xingyu said.

At this time, Wang Shanshan suddenly called.

Luo Xingyu pressed the answer button.

Wang Shanshan's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Xingyu, how are your preparations over there? Our live broadcast team is ready, but we are waiting for you."

Luo Xingyu turned to look at the sun hanging in the west and said: "We are still choosing a site here. We are interested in the viewing platform on a radio telescope. Teacher Liang Ming went to coordinate it. If we can go up there, the effect will be just right."

of."

Wang Shanshan said: "Okay, then you hurry up. After you choose the location, you can call me. Let's leave some time to start the joint adjustment."

Luo Xingyu agreed and hung up the phone. In addition to the 30-meter viewing platform on the Maxwell Telescope that Professor Liang was coordinating, he also took a fancy to several unowned hills. If Professor Liang didn't handle this matter, he would

I was going to settle for the next best thing and start the live broadcast on a hill in front.

No matter where the live broadcast is, the equipment must be unloaded first. Luo Xingyu parked the car, opened the trunk and started unloading. Gao Si quickly got out of the car to help him. Zhuang Zuqin and Du Xinying also wanted to get out of the car, but Gao Si persuaded them to stop.

Let them rest in the car for a while.

After a while, Zhuang Zuqin ran out of the car. She pulled Gao Si and pointed to the top of the hill. It turned out that Professor Liang had stood on the viewing platform of the Maxwell Telescope and waved to them, asking them to come up. Look at his mouth shape

He was still holding something in his mouth, but his voice was blown away by the strong wind on the top of the mountain.

Gao Si immediately carried a large backpack and a heavy suitcase. Luo Xingyu also carried a large bag, and the two girls also carried things in their hands. The four of them went up the hill together. Under the Maxwell Telescope

At the small door, a young man with yellow skin was waiting for them.

Gao Si said hello from afar. It wasn't until he heard the sentence "I'm sorry for you" that he realized that the scientist was not from China, but from Japan. Gao Si also followed the same example and said "I'm sorry for you".

Wow, he went in with a big bag on his back. The Japanese astronomer may have mistakenly thought that Gao Si was also from Japan, so he chatted behind him for a long time. How could he have known that Gao Si didn't understand a word he said.

The scene inside the telescope shocked Gao Si. The place where he was was directly under the huge parabolic antenna. The huge steel structure brackets held the reflectors steadily, and the huge tracks were slowly driving the antenna.

The ground rotates upward.

When Gao Si looked up at the antenna, he saw Professor Liang Ming standing on the high maintenance platform. He pointed to the metal spiral staircase below and said: "This way, you can come up from here."

Thirty meters high is the height of the tenth floor. Carrying a large bag full of live broadcast equipment and a heavy suitcase to climb up to the tenth floor, even though Gao Si had excellent endurance, he was sweating slightly on his temples.

Zhu Luo Xingyu was carrying a pile of things heavier than him as he walked on the narrow spiral staircase, making a thumping sound.

After putting down his backpack and suitcase, Gao Si went down to pick up Luo Xingyu. After pulling and pulling, the four of them got onto the viewing platform with all their equipment. The two girls were also a little out of breath and looked a little embarrassed.

Liang Ming was a little surprised: "I didn't expect you would need to bring so much equipment for a live broadcast? I thought these were your daily necessities."

Luo Xingyu smiled and said: "Half of the weight of these things is batteries. After all, not all places have electricity."

Liang Ming understood, nodded and smiled.

Gao Si asked again: "Teacher Liang, you have a very good relationship with this Maxwell telescope."

Liang Ming smiled and said: "Don't you know, the Maxwell Telescope was originally a project jointly conducted by the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands. From 1987 to 2015, the Joint Astronomy Center has been operating the telescope. Later, high-level

A large number of radio telescopes were built like mushrooms after a spring rain. Several new submillimeter wave telescopes were also built, and the Maxwell Telescope began to lose money. The Joint Astronomy Center almost stopped operating the telescope at that time."

"What happened next?"

"Later, the National Astronomical Observatory of China took action. Because China has never had a radio telescope in the center of the Pacific Ocean. If we get the operating rights of this telescope, we can use this telescope and China's radio telescope to form a survey of more than 10,000 kilometers long.

Baseline.”

"Teacher Liang, what is the measurement baseline?" Zhuang Zuqin asked without understanding.

"Simply put, a radio telescope can use multiple telescopes far apart to observe the same target together. The distance between the two farthest telescopes can be called the measurement baseline. The length of the baseline is equivalent to the diameter of the radio telescope array, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

Having a radio telescope will be of great benefit to China’s radio astronomy research.”

"So, can we say that this observatory actually belongs to China?"

"It cannot be said that the National Astronomical Observatory of China is just an operating organization, and the property rights of the telescope have not changed."

"Then who is that person who opened the door for us?"

Liang Ming smiled and said: "Several young people working here are my students. The director of the Maxwell Telescope is an old classmate of mine. Do you think my words can be ignored?"

While talking, Luo Xingyu had already set up several cameras and video cameras.

"Xiaoying, Zuqin, you two stand over there and let's try the camera."