The National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC, ) is an astronomical research institute operated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Purple Mountain Observatory and National Time Service Center.

History and introduction

Founded on April 25, 2001, NAOC was formed through the merging of four Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) observatories, three CAS observing stations and one CAS research centre. The Headquarters of the NAOC are situated in the northern Chaoyang District of Beijing on the site of the former Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO), and take responsibility for all matters relating to the former BAO. Currently, NAOC has 7 astronomical research departments listed follows: Besides apparatus like 2.16m optical telescope and 50m radio telescope, NAOC also operates the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopy Telescope (LAMOST) and one of the largest radio observatory, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The future China Space Station Telescope (CSST) will also be operated by NAOC. Editorial departments of Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (RAA) and China National Astronomy (中国国家天文) are located in NAOC.

Subordinate units

Direct subordinate units

NAOC currently have 4 direct subordinate units, with 2 astronomical observatory, 1 artificial satellite observing station and 1 astronomical instrument developing institute.

Observing stations

Research highlights

Fast radio bursts (FRBs)

In 2019, FAST observation to fast radio burst (FRB) event FRB180301 reveals that the origin of FRBs should be inside the magnetosphere of designated object. In 2020, another FRB event FRB200428, which was later confirmed to be originated from magnetar SGR J1935+2154, was observed in detail by FAST team. Research suggests that a low correlation between FRBs and magnetar X-ray burst.

Dark matter halo

In 2020, NAOC and its collaborators performed a numerical simulation to dark matter halo between galaxies. This GADGET-4 simulation, with a dynamic range over 30 magnitudes, plotted a clear structure of dark matter haloes with mass ranging from earth-size to cosmological scale. The simulation provides a detailed universe structure under L-CDM model.

International collaborations

NAOC took part in a wide range of International collaborations, include Square Kilometre Array (SKA), Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), Herschel Space Observatory, and Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS), etc. Meanwhile, several NAOC developing projects are also international collaborated, including FAST. NAOC also started cooperation with futuristic projects like Einstein Probe (EP), CSST, etc.