Astronomy Picture of the Day - Arecibo Telescope Collapse

APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 9 Dec, 2020 | Video Credit: Arecibo Observatory, NSF

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: This was one great scientific instrument. Starting in 1963, the 305-meters across Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico USA reigned as the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world for over 50 years. Among numerous firsts and milestones, data from Arecibo has been used to measure the spin of Mercury, map the surface of Venus, discover the first planets outside of our Solar System, verify the existence of gravitational radiation, search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and, reportedly, locate hidden military radar by tracking their reflections from the Moon. In the process of being decommissioned, the Arecibo Telescope suffered a catastrophic structural collapse early this month, as seen in the featured composite video.

[MtnClimber]

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then zoom by moving the magnifying glass over an area and then clicking. The side bars will move the zoomed area over the photograph.

[MtnClimber]

Posted is a photo. A video of the collapse is at the link.

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌

[George from New England]

Anybody got a google link to this on a map ?

Lat and long ?

[CivilWarBrewing]

SpaceX StarShip crashing has got ya beat! But it was in INSANELY incredible flight though!!!!!!!!!

[MrHead]

18°20′39″N

66°45′10″W

[MtnClimber]

Drone footage shows a different view of the collapse:

Arecibo collapse drone view

[Bullish]

Whoopsie!

[polymuser]

Video https://youtu.be/b3AASKr_iHc

[ETL]

[George from New England]

In case you havent seen it.

Great movie in 2000 called The Dish.

Story of this same type of radio telescope in Australia and the moon shot. 1969

[polymuser]

Found it, gonna watch it after dinner. I like Sam Neil. Thanks!!

[dsrtsage]

So much for the sequel to contact

[ETL]

[Jamestown1630]

Great movie.

[ETL]

So much for the sequel to contact.

Lol! I hadn't seen your post before posting my previous.

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks! I had heard about this, but didn’t know a movie had been made about it.

[ETL]

[from occupied ga]

Any help wondering if the collapse was brought on by incompetent maintenance. Or possibly no maintenance and the money went into some official’s pocket. After all this is Puerto Rico. Possibly even more corrupt than NJ.

[Jamestown1630]

This is a great movie - hilarious and fun! My husband and I watched it tonight, and it’s just what we needed here in ever-escalating ‘lockdown’. Thanks very much for the suggestion.

(And it has great music - it’s been ages since I’ve heard ‘Good Morning Starshine’ and ‘Classical Gas’.)

The Parkes Dish is apparently still operational:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkes_Observatory#Apollo_11_broadcast