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DrPop
11-19-20, 03:51 PM
Looks like they can't salvage arecibo. :(

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/19/21575025/arecibo-observatory-puerto-rico-decommission-structural-collapse-cable-break
zombie67
11-19-20, 04:41 PM
Sad.
Al
11-19-20, 05:02 PM
I just saw that. It is a sad day.
tsuess
11-19-20, 09:49 PM
End of an Era, for sure. At least we can still watch "Contact" and see it again....
zombie67
11-19-20, 09:52 PM
End of an Era, for sure. At least we can still watch "Contact" and see it again....

I prefer James Bond. :)
Duke of Buckingham
11-21-20, 04:11 PM
Very sad the most iconic radio telescope is going to disappear. So many movies and memories of myself other times will stay in my heart.
shiva
11-21-20, 06:43 PM
I prefer James Bond. :)

yea on the James Bond, that was a great show
trigggl
11-25-20, 01:34 PM
It's a sad day for planetary defense.
At the FAST wiki... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-hundred-meter_Aperture_Spherical_Telescope)

Arecibo also includes several NSF funded radars for ionospheric studies. These powerful transmitters are too large and heavy for FAST's small receiver cabin, so it will not be able to participate in planetary defence.

planetary society arecibo reaction (https://www.planetary.org/articles/planetary-society-arecibo-reaction)

Of immediate concern is the telescope’s role in tracking and characterizing asteroids. Arecibo’s planetary radar was the most powerful in the world, observing roughly 100 near-Earth asteroids per year. Half of those were newly discovered objects whose orbits were not precisely known. Arecibo observations helped scientists determine whether an asteroid would hit our planet and ensured their trajectories were catalogued for future observations.
trigggl
12-01-20, 06:29 PM
Well it's an even sadder day. The observatory has collapsed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55147973
DrPop
12-02-20, 03:05 AM
Well it's an even sadder day. The observatory has collapsed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55147973

Wow. Totally gone now. Sigh...
Mumps
12-03-20, 08:26 PM
Wow... That they actually had a drone recording video watching the cables on one of the support towers as it collapsed...

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37945/crazy-video-footage-shows-the-exact-moment-the-arecibo-radio-telescope-collapsed
DrPop
12-04-20, 01:35 PM
Huh. Too bad they couldn't have replaced a cable weeks ago. On second thought, if they let it go that bad or un-maintained for so long, who knows what else was ready to go, and might have killed whoever was working on it. So maybe it's just better like this in the end. :(