# Planning the scientific applications of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope

## TL;DR

The paper discusses the capabilities and scientific potential of the FAST telescope, highlighting its early discoveries and outlining ambitious future observational projects to advance astronomy and physics.

## Contribution

It presents a strategic vision for FAST's scientific applications and potential discoveries over the next decade.

## Key findings

- FAST has begun making astronomical discoveries, especially pulsars.
- It proposes ambitious observational projects for astronomy and physics.
- FAST's operational plans aim to achieve significant scientific goals.

## Abstract

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is by far the largest telescope of any kind ever built. FAST produced its first light in September 2016 and it is now under commissioning, with normal operation to commence in late 2019. During testing and early science operation, FAST has started making astronomical discoveries, particularly pulsars of various kinds, including millisecond pulsars, binaries, gamma-ray pulsars, etc. The papers in this mini-volume propose ambitious observational projects to advance our knowledge of astronomy, astrophysics and fundamental physics in many ways. Although it may take FAST many years to achieve all the goals explained in these papers, taken together they define a powerful strategic vision for the next decade.