Puerto Rico: Iconic Arecibo Observatory
telescope collapses
BBC News,
by
Staff
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
12/1/2020 4:48:55 PM
A huge radio telescope in Puerto Rico has collapsed after decades of astronomical discoveries.
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) said the telescope's 900-ton instrument platform fell onto a reflector dish some 450ft (137m) below.
It came just weeks after officials announced that the telescope would be dismantled amid safety fears, following damage to its support system.
The Arecibo Observatory telescope was one of the largest in the world.
It was a key scientific resource for radio astronomers for 57 years, and was also made famous as the backdrop for a scene in the James Bond film GoldenEye and other Hollywood movies.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
DVC 12/1/2020 5:03:42 PM (No. 620958)
This is a shame, but I would guess that it has been neglected and not properly maintained for decades for it to get to this state.
14 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
clayusmcret 12/1/2020 5:04:53 PM (No. 620961)
The Arecibo Observatory telescope - the perfect metaphor for the Puerto Rican run government.
22 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
red1066 12/1/2020 5:16:44 PM (No. 620970)
If this telescope was so valuable, why was it not maintained, but being disabled instead?
10 people like this.
Linked article at the bottom has a close-up photo of the earlier damage. Put up 50+ years ago, surely it would cost less to position an antenna in orbit that could perform the mission much better. And, yes, considering the location you have to question the maintenance program and how much of it was properly carried out over the decades.
4 people like this.
Hey it was in the PR, no one there probably gave a $*=+ about it. Shuda kept Cuba and let them go.
4 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
JL80863 12/1/2020 5:51:19 PM (No. 621011)
Thirty percent of the working population are territory employees. A democrat utopia.
3 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 12/1/2020 5:58:00 PM (No. 621016)
It was handed over to Florida State University to manage, and well, you can see how good a job they did. Probably funneled Federal funds away and put it into grants and chairs to promote the school.
Now we have to depend on the Chinese for Radio Telescope access. Great move American science.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
toddh 12/1/2020 7:56:53 PM (No. 621079)
Radio astronomy is done differently these days. Instead of one big dish, we use many smaller ones, and through (Very) Long Baseline Interferometry synthesize what would have been the image of a dish the diameter of the two most distant dishes in the group. The VLB Array acts like a dish the diameter of Earth itself!
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
caljeepgirl 12/1/2020 7:59:38 PM (No. 621084)
Also featured in Charlie Sheen's "The Arrival", a real sleeper and one of my favorites! Track it down....
1 person likes this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
RU4us 12/1/2020 10:22:44 PM (No. 621150)
Regarding Puerto Rico: How many U.S. expats would it take to get independence for the island, should plan A fall through? Barr will eventually come around to acknowledging "widespread election fraud", but they'll assure us that there was "no evidence of intent".
It would give Mr. Trump a nice project to work on.
0 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
PostAway 12/1/2020 10:27:38 PM (No. 621155)
Thank God! Maybe they’ll condemn it. I go to PR every winter and need to make a trek to this clunker at least once during my stay because somebody always visits who wants to see it. My attitude is: imagine Christo covered a cow pasture with white sheets and then go to the beach instead. But I always have to drive so I go. BTW, those of you knocking PR could also be talking about several large American cities. I’m as white as Wonder Bread but am almost always treated well by the Puerto Rican people who I find to be generally warm and generous.
1 person likes this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 12/1/2020 11:58:33 PM (No. 621208)
#4, the issue is aperture, which is the measure of the size of the antenna....maximum dimension. The resolution is controlled completely by the aperture of any kind of telescope.
How would you launch a 1,000 foot diameter dish into orbit? This is not an optical telescope, so it is not seriously hampered by the atmosphere like optical telescopes are, so little benefit to have it in orbit, anyway.
0 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
MickTurn 12/2/2020 8:18:53 AM (No. 621360)
Sorry, Duct Tape isn't a remedy.
0 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
snakeoil 12/3/2020 7:02:11 PM (No. 622568)
2020 continues to be the worst year ever. Just found out about it. Have stopped watching all news since Nov 3. Horrible loss for science.
0 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
franq 12/4/2020 6:09:30 AM (No. 622778)
Rust never sleeps.
0 people like this.
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