Introduction To The Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope (CSST)
The Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope (CSST) is an upcoming Stage-IV sky survey telescope, distinguished by its large field of view (FoV), high image quality, and multi-band observation capabilities.
It can simultaneously conduct precise measurements of the Universe by performing multi-color photometric imaging and slitless spectroscopic surveys. The CSST is equipped with five scientific instruments, i.e. Multi-band Imaging and Slitless Spectroscopy Survey Camera (SC), Multi-Channel Imager (MCI), Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS), Cool Planet Imaging Coronagraph (CPI-C), and THz Spectrometer (TS).
Using these instruments, CSST is expected to make significant contributions and discoveries across various astronomical fields, including cosmology, galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN), the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, stars, exoplanets, Solar System objects, astrometry, and transients and variable sources.
This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the CSST instruments, observational capabilities, data products, and scientific potential.
CSST Collaboration: Yan Gong, Haitao Miao, Hu Zhan, Zhao-Yu Li, Jinyi Shangguan, Haining Li, Chao Liu, Xuefei Chen, Haibo Yuan, Jilin Zhou, Hui-Gen Liu, Cong Yu, Jianghui Ji, Zhaoxiang Qi, Jiacheng Liu, Zigao Dai, Xiaofeng Wang, Zhenya Zheng, Lei Hao, Jiangpei Dou, Yiping Ao, Zhenhui Lin, Kun Zhang, Wei Wang, Guotong Sun, Ran Li, Guoliang Li, Youhua Xu, Xinfeng Li, Shengyang Li, Peng Wu, Jiuxing Zhang, Bo Wang, Jinming Bai, Yi-Fu Cai, Zheng Cai, Jie Cao, Kwan Chuen Chan, Jin Chang, Xiaodian Chen, Xuelei Chen, Yuqin Chen, Yun Chen, Wei Cui, Subo Dong, Pu Du, Wenying Duan, Junhui Fan, LuLu Fan, Zhou Fan, Zuhui Fan, Taotao Fang, Jianning Fu, Liping Fu, Zhensen Fu, Jian Gao, Shenghong Gu, Yidong Gu, Qi Guo, Zhanwen Han, Bin Hu, Zhiqi Huang, Luis C. Ho, Linhua Jiang, Ning Jiang, Yipeng Jing, Xi Kang, Xu Kong, Cheng Li, Chengyuan Li, Di Li, Jing Li, Nan Li, Yang A. Li, Shilong Liao, Weipeng Lin, Fengshan Liu, Jifeng Liu, Xiangkun Liu, Zhuokai Liu, Ruiqing Mao, Shude Mao, Xianmin Meng, Xiaoying Pang, Xiyan Peng, Yingjie Peng, Huanyuan Shan, Juntai Shen, Shiyin Shen, Zhiqiang Shen, Sheng-Cai Shi, Yong Shi, Siyuan Tan, Hao Tian, Jianmin Wang, Jun-Xian Wang, Xin Wang, Yuting Wang, Hong Wu et al. (22 additional authors not shown)
Comments: 48 pages, 12 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
Cite as: arXiv:2507.04618 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2507.04618v3 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2507.04618
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Journal reference: SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy Volume 69, Issue 3: 239501 (2026)
Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-025-2809-0
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Submission history
From: Yan Gong
[v1] Mon, 7 Jul 2025 02:26:08 UTC (6,933 KB)
[v2] Wed, 3 Sep 2025 07:11:20 UTC (6,937 KB)
[v3] Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:25:19 UTC (6,494 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04618
Astrobiology, Astronomy,
