[ad_1]
One of the largest radio telescopes in the world, used to monitor stars for more than half a century, has collapsed.
The 57-year-old telescope a Puerto RicoThe Arecibo Observatory was also the protagonist of the James Bond GoldenEye movie, when Pierce Brosnan’s 007 downsized the facility while grappling with Sean Bean’s traitor 006.
Unfortunately, the telescope suffered severe damage in August and has deteriorated since then.
Its 900-tonne instrument platform, suspended by cables 137 meters above a 305-meter-wide reflector dish, fell on Tuesday morning, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) said.
No one was injured in the collapse.
The structure collapsed on Tuesday morning
Scientists around the world have used the telescope to look for signs of alien life, study distant planets, and monitor potentially dangerous asteroids.
Two of the cables had broken during the summer, forcing officials to close the observatory as engineers tried to figure out how to repair the damage.
Technician reviews found that it was too dangerous to repair the structure and that it should have been demolished.
During the collapse, the top section of all three telescope support towers broke and the support cables also crashed when the instrument platform fell.
The observatory’s learning center, which is located next to the telescope, was badly damaged by falling cables.
These aerial views show the damage
“We are saddened by this situation but grateful that no one was hurt,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said in a statement.
“Our goal is now to assess the damage, find ways to restore operations elsewhere in the observatory, and work to continue supporting the scientific community and the people of Puerto Rico.”
The observatory was closed after the first damage
It is not yet known why the cables initially broke during the summer.
The Arecibo Observatory also houses a 12-meter telescope used for radio astronomy research, as well as a facility for studying the upper atmosphere and the earth’s ionosphere.
Source link
