National Astronomical Observatories of China

The National Astronomical Observatories of China, usually shortened to NAOC, is an astronomical research institute operated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, alongside the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, the Purple Mountain Observatory and the National Time Service Center. It was founded on April 25, 2001, by merging four Academy observatories, three observing stations and one research centre. Its headquarters stand in the northern Chaoyang District of Beijing, on the site of the former Beijing Astronomical Observatory. NAOC organizes its work in seven research departments, among them optical, radio, solar and galactic astronomy, a department for the Moon and deep space detection, and one for space science. It operates the 2.16 metre optical telescope, a 50 metre radio telescope, the LAMOST spectroscopic survey telescope and the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, FAST, and it is slated to operate the future China Space Station Telescope.