The telescope will be sited at the Gaomeigu (GMG) Station, 3,240 meters above sea level atop a mountain near the historic city and tourist spot of Lijiang, in southwest China's Yunnan Province. It is possible to observe about 250 nights each year at GMG, which is under the Yunnan Observatory, the National Astronomical Observatories at CAS.
On May 12 the Chinese Academy of Science astronomical observatory officially named the 12th asteroid (international number 14,656) discovered by Chinese scientists as "the Lijiang star".
Construction of China's largest general optics tracking telescope was completed on May 12 and it is now ready for use at the Chinese Academy of Science Yunnan Province Lijiang astronomic observatory. The telescope, 2.4 meters in diameter, 8 meters tall and weighing 40 tons, is the largest of its kind in East Asia. The telescope, located at the newly-built Lijiang Observatory in Yunnan Province, will be available to astronomers from home and abroad upon the completion of a test run by the end of this year.