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Satellites have identified gaps in the damaged Arecibo Observatory, which is expected to be shut down by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
The 57-year-old radio telescope held out two cable faults that made his huge plate too unstable to be safely fixed, according to the NSF. Cable failures have also damaged the huge dish, which spans an impressive 305 meters in diameter, by digging holes in its delicate metal panels.
Those holes in the telescope’s large dish and the vegetation growing beneath the historic piece of technology can be seen from space in a new high-resolution satellite image taken from the satellite constellation Dove operated by Planet, a California-based company. The image was produced at the request of Nature, according to a statement.
Related: The loss of the Arecibo Observatory would create a hole that cannot be filled
The NSF will decommission the telescope due to the damage, the agency announced at a press conference held on November 19.
“Attempts to stabilize or test the cables could also lead to acceleration of catastrophic failure,” Ralph Gaume, director of the NSF’s astronomy division, said at a news conference. “The engineers cannot tell us the safety margin of the facility, but they have informed NSF that the facility will collapse on its own in the near future.”
Maxar’s WorldView satellite also recently took over the observatory from space.
In satellite imagery you can see small green dots dotting the gray plate. That vegetation is the local plant life of Puerto Rico, where the observatory is located, which grows under the antenna and can be seen through the gashes left by the two cable failures that occurred in August and November.
When the first cable slipped, it hit the panels around the edge of the telescope dish; when the second cable broke, it tore large tears inside the parabola, natural.
Email Chelsea Gohd at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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