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The platform was detached from the support towers due to broken cables and collapsed onto the reflector bowl with a diameter of about 305 meters.
The telescope has been in disrepair since August / video screenshot
The National Science Foundation has published a record of the moment when the 900-ton emitting platform of the legendary Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed.
The video was recorded from two angles.
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It shows that the platform fell off the supporting towers due to broken cables and collapsed onto the reflector bowl with a diameter of about 305 meters. The cliff and the fall took about 15 seconds.
The telescope has been in bad shape since August. In November it was decided to take it out of service and fly it up, as there was a risk of “catastrophic collapse”.
Recall that the destruction of the telescope structure began in August 2020. Then one of the auxiliary cables broke and opened a hole in the antenna. A few months later one of the main cables that held the platform fell. The observatory found that the collapse had made the telescope’s structure too unstable and that the repairs posed a threat to workers. It was decided to stop the work of the observatory. Observations of the sky stopped on November 20.
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Author:
Denis Pryadko
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