Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was founded in 1957. Originally called the ‘Man-made Satellite Ground Station of CAS’, the institute was renamed to Urumqi Astronomical Observatory of CAS in 1987. In 2001, XAO became one of the joint institutions of National Astronomical Observatory, CAS (NAOC). Finally in 2011, the Institute changed its name to XAO, and the headquarters was located in Urumqi city, Xinjiang.
Research at XAO is comprised of three divisions: Radio Astronomy Research Division, Optical Astronomy Research Division and Computer Application Research Division. Each division is made up of several research groups from different research fields. The latter includes pulsar emission and gravitational wave detection, star formation and evolution, galaxies and cosmology, astrochemistry, time domain optical astronomy and wide field survey, solar physics, space objects and debris, and astronomical techniques and methods.
XAO manages a number of laboratories and research centres, including the Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy of CAS （Nanshan branch）, Xinjiang Key Laboratories of Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Xinjiang Key Laboratories of Microwave Technology. The research centres include the International Research Centre for Radio Astronomy and Technology, the International Research Center for Radio Astronomy and Technology, the China-Central Asia Joint Research Center for Astroarcheology and the Xinjiang University-NAOC Joint Research Center for Astrophysics.
XAO maintains and operates several observing stations located at Nanshan, QiTai，Muztagh and Kashgar. The main observational facilities include the NanShan 26-m Radio Telescope, Nanshan One meter Wide-field optical Telescope, Nanshan 1.2-m Optical Telescope, and more. These facilities are also critical in terms of providing sufficient observing power for China deep space exploration.
A project to build a large steerable 110-meter radio telescope, known as the QiTai radio Telescope (QTT), in Qitai County, Xinjiang, is currently in progress. The construction kicked off in September 2022, and the project was regarded by the Nature Journal as the most anticipated science event around the world in 2023. It is expected that QTT will make significant contributions to various scientific investigations at the forefront. This includes the discovery of more fast radio bursts, and the research of the dark matters, black holes, gravitational waves, celestial bodies and the origins of life in the universe. As a major national science and technology infrastructure in astronomy, QTT will also provide strong technical support for the China’s space program.
International collaboration is an important channel for XAO through which promotion of the development of astronomy, astrophysics and other related fields in science is made. XAO has already established friendly relationship with many international research organizations.
XAO also holds a wide range of well-received science popularization activities. This includes the public star parties, student field trips to the NanShan station, campus visits by astronomers, astronomical winter and summer camp, public science day of CAS. XAO also offers opportunities for children living in remote poverty areas to visit our facilities through free camps. We will continuous make contributions to the scientific research and public science communication.
