ARECIBO TELESCOPE DAMAGE BY MARIA FULL
More than a year later, no one is particularly satisfied by the story pieced together so far, full of unsolved mysteries and unseen warnings - hence the new analysis. 1, 2020, bringing the entire platform crashing down and leaving the three different scientific communities that had relied on the telescope for decades bereft. But just as engineers were preparing to stabilize the structure, another cable snapped in November, leaving NSF skeptical that the telescope could be saved.Ī third cable snapped on Dec. At the time, it was obviously concerning, but it wasn't considered an emergency. Just over two years later, one of the massive cables supporting the heavy science platform above the vast dish unexpectedly slipped out of its socket and crashed through the telescope in August 2020. The University of Central Florida took over managing Arecibo, including the radio telescope and the rest of the site, in April 2018. By that time, the NSF was already evaluating proposals for what would be the second change in operating institutions in a decade and a management structure that would reduce the agency's financial commitment to the observatory. In the past decade, Arecibo Observatory has faced challenges including a sequence of earthquakes and hurricanes, most notably Hurricane Maria that battered Puerto Rico in September 2017. (Image credit: Courtesy of the NAIC - Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF) Reviewing a calamity "So the NSF wants to know, how should we monitor these? Because every structure in the course of degrading sends you messages."Īt Arecibo, those messages went unaddressed.Ī view of the science platform from the center of the iconic radio dish at Arecibo Observatory. "Every one of these, by nature of being cutting-edge scientific instruments, puts a brand new design to its test over an extended period of time," McCarthy said. Rubin Observatory in Chile that is scheduled to begin observations next year. In astronomy alone, NSF's facilities include key observatories like the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array ( ALMA) in Chile, the equator-crossing Gemini Observatory and the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) outposts in Washington and Louisiana. But if all goes well, the investigation will identify the factors that let the telescope become so delicate without anyone realizing how dire the situation was - factors that may well be present at other facilities the NSF supports. "Finding out what went wrong at Arecibo doesn't really help them with Arecibo, because Arecibo fell down," Mike Nolan, a planetary scientist now at the University of Arizona who was director of Arecibo Observatory from 2008 to 2011, told .Īnd no other facility, NSF or otherwise, sports a design anything like Arecibo's massive dish and hanging platform.
Whatever the committee finds will be cold comfort to the scientists who worked at Arecibo or used its data - and that's three separate communities, since the instrument did key work in radio astronomy, planetary radar observations and atmospheric science. 6, though the Arecibo Observatory made it through that storm relatively unscathed.Įmail Hanneke Weitering at or follow her.
Hurricane Irma also hit the island on Sept. 18) as the observatory was preparing for the second major hurricane to hit Puerto Rico this month. 27), Arecibo representatives said on Twitter Monday (Sept. The visitor center is officially closed through Wednesday (Sept. Getting to the observatory will be a challenge, though, as roads are covered in debris and are inaccessible at this time, USRA officials said.īefore the hurricane, Arecibo officials tweeted that the observatory would reopen to staff today, though it seems unlikely that anyone who didn't take shelter at the observatory will be able to report for work. Vazquez also detailed some of the damage done to the iconic telescope. National Geographic's Nadia Drake reports that Pennsylvania State University professor Jim Breakall spoke with the telescope operator, who was identified as Ángel Vazquez, and said staff members and their families were safe after sheltering at the facility. One telescope operator at Arecibo managed to contact USRA officials Thursday (Sept.
ARECIBO TELESCOPE DAMAGE BY MARIA UPDATE
While the overall structure of the telescope is still standing, it sustained some pretty serious damage from Hurricane Maria, according to an update from the Universities Space Research Organization (USRA), which helps to operate the Arecibo Observatory. The Arecibo Observatory houses the world's second-largest radio telescope. Without power, phones or internet service, the Arecibo Observatory has been offline since the storm hit. 20) and left widespread destruction in its wake.
The storm hit the island as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday (Sept. Puerto Rico's iconic Arecibo Observatory has sustained some significant damage from Hurricane Maria, officials reported today (Sept.
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