Sci/Tech 'A huge loss': Giant Puerto Rico radio telescope collapses, following damage

[tom_mai78101]

The Arecibo Observatory, a huge and previously damaged radio telescope in Puerto Rico that played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century, completely collapsed on Tuesday.

The telescope's 900-ton receiver platform fell onto the reflector dish more than 400 feet below.

Puerto Rican meteorologist Ada Monzón broke into tears on local TV as she delivered the devastating news to other heartbroken Puerto Ricans across the U.S. territory.

"I have to inform you, with my heart in hand, that the Arecibo Observatory collapsed," she said in Spanish. "We made every attempt to save it."

The U.S. National Science Foundation had earlier announced that the Arecibo Observatory would be closed. An auxiliary cable snapped in August, causing a 100-foot gash on the 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) reflector dish and damaged the receiver platform that hung above it. Then a main cable broke in early November.

'A huge loss': Giant Puerto Rico radio telescope collapses, following damage

"It was a jewel of science," said a Puerto Rican meteorologist about the Arecibo observatory, which was until recently the world's largest observatory.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Ghan]

Yeah, I heard about this. Arecibo was the largest radar-capable radio telescope in the world. There are larger radio dishes, but this one was capable of actually sending out active signals and listening for a response (like bouncing a radio signal off a near-Earth asteroid), whereas most radio telescopes can only listen for incoming signals from things that actually generate radio waves.

Sad to hear. Unfortunately the funding wasn't there to keep the place running.