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Some sad astronomy news: The wonderful and enormous 305-meter Arecibo radio telescope has sustained so much damage from broken cables that it has to be decomissioned. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-giant-arecibo-radio-telescope-to-be-decommissioned-due-to-damage
2/ A 7-ton steel auxiliary cable slipped its connection in August, and then one of a dozen main cables supporting the *900-ton* platform above the big dish snapped unexpectedly, causing more damage.
3/ The first cable could've been fixed, and plans were underway to do so when the 2nd cable broke. Inspection beforehand showed it wasn't doing badly and wasn't under undo strain when it broke. Obviously things were worse than thought, raising suspicion on remaining cables, too.
4/ If nothing is done an uncontrolled collapse of the platform and towers could occur, so they're decommissioning the whole thing and looking into how to control the demolition. It's not yet known how that will work; the decision was *just* made.
5/ This truly sucks. The 'scope was an important piece of radio astronomy science, and critical for things like nailing down the orbits of potentially hazardous asteroids. It was built in 1963 and has been used for many thousands of observations of the Universe.
6/ It also has a place in pop culture. It was seen in a James Bond movie, Contact, Doctor Who, and many more.
It provided economic support for Puerto Rico as well, including STEM support for teachers and students. The loss is devastating.
It provided economic support for Puerto Rico as well, including STEM support for teachers and students. The loss is devastating.
7/ I'll note scicommer @nadiamdrake wrote about this in NatGeo a week ago, with more details, though before NSF announced it will shut down the 'scope. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/11/arecibo-observatory-in-puerto-rico-at-risk-of-collapsing/
8/ My hope is that a state-of-the-art 'scope will replace it. That happened when the 100-meter radio 'scope at the Green Bank Observatory collapsed in '88. The replacement is an amazing fully steerable dish 100 meters wide. The size of a football field!
9/9 New technology, new techniques, new ideas... perhaps what grows in its place will be even better. For now, though, there's much work to do to deal with what's still there.
This is awful, but hope remains. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-giant-arecibo-radio-telescope-to-be-decommissioned-due-to-damage
This is awful, but hope remains. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-giant-arecibo-radio-telescope-to-be-decommissioned-due-to-damage
