墨子巡天望远镜

2026-05-25

From May 16 to 18, 2026, the mid-term self-evaluation meeting of the National Key R&D Program project “Frontier Scientific Research Based on the 2.5-meter Wide Field Survey Telescope” (PI: Professor Xu Kong, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, USTC) was held in a hybrid format (both in-person and online) at the first-floor conference room of the Materials Science Research Building at USTC.

2026-05-20

HEFEI, China — A research team led by Professor Ji-an Jiang from the Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has eported notable progress in the study of Type Ia supernovae. Leveraging the wide-field survey capabilities of the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST), also known as the Mozi telescope, the team’s findings were published this April in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics and The Astrophysical Journal.

2026-03-10

Recently, the research team led by Professor Xu Kong at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has achieved a significant breakthrough in time-domain astronomical data mining. Focusing on the massive data from the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST), the team successfully developed an automatic classifier for Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) based on a Transformer deep learning architecture — TTC. Acting like a tireless ‘AI hunter,’ TTC can accurately capture the spectacular moments of a star being devoured by a black hole amidst vast survey data. The results were published on March 10, 2026, in the international renowned astrophysical journal The Astrophysical Journal, under the title ‘TTC: Transformer-based TDE Classifier for the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST)’. Ph.D. student Ranfang Zheng is the first and corresponding author; Ph.D. student Zheyu Lin and Professor Xu Kong are co-corresponding authors.

2025-08-16

The Second WFST Time-Domain Astronomy Summer School, co-organized by the Department of Astronomy at USTC and Guizhou University, was successfully concluded in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, from August 9 to 15, 2025.

2025-03-16

The 2024 Annual Exchange Meeting of the National Key R&D Program project ‘Frontier Scientific Research Based on the 2.5-meter Wide Field Survey Telescope’ (PI: Professor Xu Kong, USTC) was successfully held in Hefei from March 14-16, 2025.

2024-08-13

The First WFST Time-Domain Astronomy Summer School, organized by the Department of Astronomy at USTC, was successfully held in Qianshan City, Anhui Province, from August 7 to 12, 2024.

2024-06-25

The Department of Astronomy at USTC will host the ‘First WFST Time-Domain Astronomy Summer School’ starting August 7, 2024.

2023-11-22

On November 22, 2023, the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center (MPC) issued an announcement confirming the discovery of two near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), 2023 WX1 and 2023 WB2 by WFST. This is the first time of the NEA discovery with WFST.

2023-09-17

The largest time-domain survey facility in the northern hemisphere, the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST), took its first-light image on the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy (known as M31). The picture shows a panoramic view of the Andromeda Galaxy and reveals distributions of bright and faint starlight in the galaxy and its surrounding celestial bodies, suggesting the dynamic processes occurring within the galaxy and interactions among galaxies.

2023-08-17

On August 16, 2023, WFST started its engineering commissioning observations. This milestone signifies that the telescope underwent a series of rigorous tests and calibrations prior to its observational mission to ensure a smooth and successful operation upon its first activation.

2023-07-24

From July 15 to 16, President Bao Xinhe academician and his entourage arrived at the astronomical observation base of Saishiteng Mountain in Lenghu, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai for investigation and research. Secretary of the Party Group of the Standing Committee of the Haixi Prefecture People’s Congress, Director Rang-Tai Cai, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of the Management Committee of the Lenghu Science and Technology Innovation Industrial Park, Executive Deputy Director Cai-Rang Tian, accompanied by the research and investigation, the Ministry of Scientific Research, the School of Physics and other relevant responsible comrades to participate in the investigation and research activities.

2023-07-13

On July 13, 2023, the acceptance meeting for the supporting infrastructure project of the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST) at University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) - Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) was held at Lenghu. The meeting was attended by representatives from Lenghu Science and Technology Innovation Industrial Park Management Committee, Qinghai Tongtai Construction Engineering Co., Ltd., University of Science and Technology of China, Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan Observatory, Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology, China Investment Engineering Inspection and Testing Co., Ltd., Qinghai Dongya Engineering Construction Management Consulting Co., Ltd., as well as relevant experts from Mangya City Construction and Transportation Quality Inspection Station.

2023-04-13

On April 13, 2023, the WFST Pioneer Observation Plan Review Meeting was held at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) - Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO), which was conducted in a combination of online and offline methods. The scientific committee of WFST participated in this review. Professor Tinggui Wang, on behalf of the WFST scientific working group, made a report on the “WFST Pioneer Observation Plan”.

2023-04-13

On April 13, 2023, the Acceptance Review Meeting for the Commissioning Prototype of the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST) of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) - Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) was held at USTC. Experts from the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO), Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO), Nanjing Astronomical Instrument Co., LTD (NAIRC), and USTC attended the meeting.

2023-04-10

On April 10, 2023, the acceptance review meeting of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)- Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST) was held at the Institute of Optics and Electronics of Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOE) in Chengdu, China, which was conducted in an offline mode and supplemented by an online mode. The meeting was attended by relevant experts from Nanjing Institute of Astronomy and Optics Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing Astronomical Instrument Co., LTD (NAIRC), Purple Mountain Observatory, Institute of Optics and Electronics of Chinese Academy of Sciences.