The Potential Of Fast In Detecting Celestial Hydroxyl Masers And Related Science Topics

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) will make contributions to studies of Galactic and extragalactic masers. This telescope, with construction finished and now undergoing commissioning, has an innovative design that leads to the highest sensitivity of any single dish radio telescope in the world. FAST's potential for OH megamaser research is discussed, including the sky density of masers detectable in surveys. The scientific impact expected from FAST maser studies is also discussed.