Puerto Rico’s iconic Arecibo telescope collapses

The instrument platform of the 305-meter telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico collapsed on December 1. He has suffered damage since this summer which led to the outcome.

The event happened overnight and no injuries were reported, according to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) on its Twitter account, which is working with stakeholders to assess the situation. “Our main priority is to maintain safety”, added this body which studies the details in which the collapse of the instrumental structure which was lifted on the large deflector was produced suspended with a structure of cables on the large deflector, built into a natural depression.

“As we move forward, we will find ways to help the scientific community and maintain our strong relationship with the Puerto Rican people. Maintaining security is our top priority and we will release further details once confirmed.” , stressed NSF.

In August 2020, the radio telescope broke a cable that was part of the supporting structure of the radio telescope. Another cable broke on November 8, damaging others and the baffle plate itself. Therefore, on November 19, the NSF announced that the radio telescope would be dismantled for safety reasons.

Inaugurated in 1963, in addition to monitoring near-Earth objects, Arecibo allowed discoveries such that Mercury’s orbital period was 59 days and not 88 as previously thought, a discovery dating back to 1964. In August 1989, the observatory took a photo of an asteroid for the first time in history: the asteroid (4769) Castalia. The following year, Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan discovered the pulsar PSR B1257 + 12, which later led him to discover its two planets in orbit; these are the first extrasolar planets discovered, Wikipedia reports.

In 1974, a message was sent to other worlds: 1679 bits transmitted from the radio telescope to the globular cluster M13, 25,000 light years away. The Arecibo Message Pattern 1 and 0 defines a 23 by 73 pixel bitmap image that includes numbers, drawn people, chemical formulas, and a telescope image.