5. China releases first image captured by new wide-field survey telescope

A wide-field telescope capable of surveying the entire Northern Hemisphere sky was put into operation on Sept 17, 2023, in Northwest China's Qinghai province, and its first image -- the Andromeda Galaxy, located over 2 million light-years away -- has already been released.

Developed by the University of Science and Technology of China and the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Wide Field Survey Telescope is now the largest time-domain survey facility in the Northern Hemisphere.