Chang'e-3 success sparks star-gazing craze_美文

Chang'e-3 success sparks star-gazing craze

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The success of Chinese lunar probe Chang'e-3 has created a surge of public enthusiasm for astronomy.

On Dec 14, Chang'e-3 set down on the moon, making China the third country in the world to make a soft landing with a lunar probe.

The probe carried a telescope, which scientists say can offer a unique view of the cosmos.

"It is the dream of scientists to look into space from the moon, where observation is better because the moon has no pollution," said Ouyang Ziyuan, a senior adviser for China's lunar program, in an interview before the Dec 2 launch.

"This is the first moon-based astronomical telescope. I know many countries are planning similar projects, but we were the first" to do it, he said.

In the Shanxi provincial observatory, people formed long lines at night to look at the moon and search for the Chang'e-3 landing area.

"I saw where Chang'e-3 landed, but I could not see the probe and Yutu", the six-wheeled moonrover, said Jin Yuxuan, a 7-year-old astronomy buff in Taiyuan, Shanxi's capital.

Astronomer Yan Xiaodong told local media that it was impossible to see Chang'e-3 and Yutu with the 40-cm-diameter telescope at the observatory, given that the probe and rover are 380,000 km away. But people will have fun with the observations and gain scientific knowledge from them, Yan said.

Meanwhile, three young men in Hubei province used plastic tubes to make an 80-mm-diameter astronomical telescope, with which they can see the moon's craters.