China's largest astronomical telescope was put into operation on Saturday in a southwestern Chinese city, a spokesman with Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said.

The telescope, 2.4 meters in diameter, 8 meters tall and weighing 40 tons, is the largest of its kind both in China and in East Asia, the spokesman said, it will be used in researches of star physics and galaxy study.

The telescope is stationed at the newly-built Lijiang Observatory in Lijiang City of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

"We chose Lijiang Observatory to house the telescope because it stands at an altitude of 3,250 meters and boasts of an ideal meteorological condition through most time of a year," the spokesman said.

The telescope will be open to astronomers from home and abroad upon the completion of the test run by the end of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2007)