The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico houses the largest single-dish radio telescope. It was recently shut down due to a broken auxiliary cable breaking and causing damage to the 1,000-foot wide and 167-foot deep reflector dish. It belongs to the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and is operated by Cornell University with the support of the National Science Foundation and NASA. For years, the telescope ran 24/7 for radio astronomy, atmospheric science, and radar astronomy.
A three-inch broken cable supporting a metal platform above the observatory also caused damage to several panels on the Gregorian Dome, which is suspended several hundred feet above the dish. Inside the dome is the ALFA multi-beam receiver, a radio receiver, which is supported by three towers and 18 cables.
What caused the damage remains unknown as the staff continue to do investigations so that engineers can make the necessary repairs. Director Francisco Cordova shared that their current focus is assuring the safety of their team, protecting the facilities and equipment, and restoring the facility to full operations as soon as possible, so it can continue to assist scientists around the world.
Arecibo's Discoveries
The Arecibo Observatory has been gathering data nonstop since 1963, initially designed by Professor William E. Gordon from Cornell University. The telescope has helped scientists understand Earth's atmosphere—its composition, density, and temperature—alongside numerous discoveries in the galaxy.
Some of the telescope's significant contributions to astronomy are creating surface maps of the Moon, Mercury, and Venus (1981). In 1967, Arecibo confirmed that Mercury's rotation rate is 59 days, which was previously estimated to be 88 days.
In 1974, the radio telescope detected the first binary pulsar or a pair of neutron stars that emit high-energy beams of radiation. The discovery led to Russel Hulse and Joseph Taylor to win a Nobel Prize in Physics.
It also discovered the first exoplanet in 1992, or a planet outside the Solar System, near the pulsar PSR 1257+12. During the same year, the telescope found that Mercury's north and south poles contain ice despite surface temperatures reaching 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
One department of the Arecibo Observatory is the Planetary Radar Science group, which is supported by NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program. The team keeps track of near-Earth objects such as asteroids, comets, and any cosmic object that approaches close to Earth. They also continually calculate and estimate if any asteroids or comets could impact Earth in the future.
The Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico (File photo)
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Surviving Storms and Earthquakes
In 2017, strong winds from Hurricane Maria caused a line feed antenna to snap, which fell and damaged the main dish. Certain repairs from several years ago are being continued today.
It had also survived several other hurricanes and earthquakes over the years. A statement from the University of Florida said, "Through it all, the facility has continued to contribute to significant breakthroughs in space research in the area of gravitational waves, asteroid characterization, planetary exploration, and more."
Dr. Anne Virki, head of Planetary Radar Science, said, that observing an asteroid on July 31 as a storm passing by "was a great example of the important role that the Arecibo Planetary radar system plays in planetary science and planetary defense, with very quick response times and high-precision radar measurements and imaging capabilities, in spite of storms, the COVID-19 pandemic, and earthquakes with which Puerto Rico has dealt with this year."
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