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Due to previous damage, plans had already been made to dismantle the telescope at the Arecibo observatory: On Tuesday, the 900-ton instrument platform fell into the bowl below, according to the US National Science Foundation (NSF). ). According to initial findings, the tops of the three support towers have been broken. In addition to the bowl, the observatory’s learning center was also seriously damaged by falling steel cables.
“We are saddened by this situation, but thankful that no one was injured,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. Even if the telescope is lost, the remaining parts of the system must be put back into operation.
Warning just a few weeks ago
It was not until November 19 that the NSF announced that, according to experts, there was a risk of a catastrophic failure of the telescope’s structure. Your cables may no longer be able to carry the loads intended for them. Repairs are not safely possible; therefore, preparations would be made to disassemble the telescope.
In August, a steel cable about three inches thick supporting a metal platform broke for unknown reasons. As it fell, it broke the reflector of the 30-meter-long telescope and damaged the dome and a platform. In addition, there was damage caused to the observatory by Hurricane Maria 2017. The telescope must be repaired. Then, on November 6, a main cable broke, according to NSF.
The world’s largest radio telescope in 2016
The radio telescope in the US suburb of Puerto Rico was the largest in the world at 305 meters in diameter until 2016, when an even larger one went into operation in China. It was also a popular tourist attraction, especially after it was used as a backdrop in the 1995 James Bond film “GoldenEye.”
The telescope was commissioned in 1963 and ultimately remains one of the most sensitive in the world. In 1974, the American astronomers Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor discovered with it the double pulsar PSR 1913 + 16, two neutron stars orbiting each other, and indirectly observed gravitational waves with it. Radio telescopes collect radio waves from space that are converted into images.
