Our first story is a sad continuation of our coverage of Arecibo Observatory. This morning, astronomers around the world are mourning the collapse of the observatory’s main instrument platform. This 900-ton platform fell, and the tops of the support towers collapsed, destroying much of the dish. This is the kind of destruction the facility can’t recover from. As you may remember, the National Science Foundation (NSF) had recently declared they would not be funding repairs because the situation was judged too dangerous. Because it’s hard to say goodbye even to a telescope, many had worked on fundraising solutions. Now it’s clear the NSF made the right choice, recognizing that people are more important than telescopes.
The images we’re sharing come from Deborah Martorell, a meteorologist for WAPA.tv and a NASA solar system ambassador.
Science is always going to have bad moments. This is not the first time a radio telescope has collapsed. Green Bank Observatory’s 300-meter dish literally fell to pieces in 1988. A new telescope was built with updated everything so the kind of science it did could continue. We don’t know what will happen this time, but I for one hope that a new radar facility will be created in Puerto Rico to continue Arceibo’s legacy of shining light on asteroids that get too close to our planet Earth.
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