The world’s most famous radio-telescope took a licking from Hurricane Maria and reportedly kept on ticking. Arecibo’s 1,000-foot dish, nestled just inside the coastal hills of northern Puerto Rico, is instantly recognizable to millions thanks to dozens of science shows and as a backdrop in films ranging from Bond flicks to the sci-fi movie Contact. Space-science sites reported the facility had apparently survived more or less unscathed shortly after Maria passed. Power was restored to the computers and motors, and the site was back in operation within a week or two:
The whole contraption looks precarious, like a massive frisbee ready to be flung out to sea with a bit of wind. “The structure is deceiving,” (Facility Director) Cordova said. “When you see it at first it looks very fragile, but it’s actually very resistant.”
When Maria slammed into the installation on Sept. 20, packing 110-mph winds, the storm tore off a few panels and broke one of the complex’s two 430 megahertz radars. But the telescope was left fully operational.
Arecibo has its own generators and the facility has been providing power to the local community since Maria took out an enormous amount of the island state’s power generation and distribution infrastructure. Power that is
sorely needed as Puerto Rico
swelters and thirsts in the wake of a criminally negligent relief effort.
The telescope has a rich history since it was went in to operation in 1963. Arecibo was the first device to pinpoint the rotation of Mercury, the first to spy the telltale signs of bizarre, ultra dense material called neutronium now known as pulsars -- giant spinning city-sized balls spraying out lethal radiation like the Devil’s lighthouse. It has assisted in mapping the grandest structures in the cosmos and imaged nearby miniature asteroids including meandering and uncharted
Near Earth Objects. Arecibo is also used by SETI researchers: it’s so sensitive it could detect the modulating carrier wave of an extraterrestrial
I Love Lucy from the other side of the Milky Way!
But the giant scope is about to be eclipsed. The Chinese are putting the finishing touches on an even bigger dish, albeit with slightly different properties in the Guizhou province. Workers put the last few panels in place on the 500 meter
Aperture Spherical Telescope's (FAST) last summer. The new scope is undergoing initial testing and, if all goes well, it will extend our radio-scopic vision even further into the universe than ever before.