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The powerful Arecibo telescope will be closed forever, the US National Science Foundation decided.
But the radio telescope that brought us confirmation of the first exoplanet in 1992 will undoubtedly live in the hearts and minds of scientists, many of whom have turned to social media to mourn the end of an era and to celebrate how Arecibo had changed the world. their lives and inspired their careers.
The iconic radio telescope was the largest in the world for decades, and has withstood a few hurricanes and pop culture fame over its 57 years of transmitting interstellar messages and receiving radio wave signals from space.
Sadly, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has decided it cannot safely repair the telescope after two sudden cable failures, one in August and another in early November, ripped giant holes in the large Arecibo reflector. 305 meters (1,000 feet).
“For nearly six decades, the Arecibo Observatory has served as a beacon for revolutionary science and what a partnership with a community can be like,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said in a statement announcing the decision to deactivate the telescope.
Scientists are devastated by the news and flooded social media with posts under the hashtag #WhatAreciboMeansToMe
“What I like most about working with Arecibo is how it is a community institution”, She said astronomer Kevin Ortiz Ceballos of the University of Puerto Rico. “[I]t has expanded Puerto Rican participation in science in immeasurable ways. ”
#WhatAreciboMeansToMe: More than a telescope, Arecibo is why I’m also into astronomy, and it has had an incalculable impact in PR communities. A thread 🧵. pic.twitter.com/GOFGXAlQ3o
– Kevin Ortiz Ceballos 🇵🇷 (@kortizceballos) November 19, 2020
The Arecibo Observatory, named after its nearest town on Puerto Rico’s north coast, has become a major center for science education and has provided invaluable training opportunities to many aspiring Puerto Rican scientists as well.
Among Arecibo’s greatest achievements was the observation of the first set of binary pulsar stars in 1974, a discovery that would pave the way for detecting gravitational waves for the first time, some 40 years later.
It has also been the scene of first dates and wedding ceremonies, filming of Hollywood movies, and eye-opening school trips.
#Receive has always meant so much to me, growing up as an astronomy obsessed kid in PR. As a college student I got to participate in an observation session that was beyond exceptional. I got married 10 years ago @AstroAhura to the observatory. Deactivation is so sad 😭#WhatAreciboMeansToMe pic.twitter.com/g4JlYq3tk0
– Emily Alicea-Muñoz, PhD (@drealiceam) November 19, 2020
The Arecibo Observatory is part of Puerto Rican culture and has given Puerto Ricans the opportunity to do science in their own backyard, She said Kelby D. Palencia-Torres, a physics student at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez.
“It’s more than an icon, a tool, a structure, it’s a community that has been built without barriers. Connecting people from all over the world … and inspiring children to explore,” he said. She said.
The Arecibo Observatory taught me about friendships, what it means to be inclusive and diverse but also that science has no barriers. With people from all over the world working for this innate feeling that we share as human beings for the cosmos. pic.twitter.com/k0CK0DdqoM
– AstroBay (@KlbTheScientist) November 19, 2020
Puerto Rican scientist Junellie González Quiles, now a doctoral student at John Hopkins University, told how she was inspired to study astronomy after astronomers with telescopes from the Arecibo Observatory visited her summer camp.
“It aroused an interest that only grew over the years and my goal was to do research at the Arecibo Observatory when I was older”, She said González Quiles, who later attended the Space Academy of the Arecibo Observatory.
“If it wasn’t for this program at the Arecibo Observatory, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he said She said. “I don’t want to be a graduate student. It changed my life.”
Evident in the stream of #WhatAreciboMeansToMe posts is that Arecibo has not only galvanized generations of planetary scientists, astronomers and astrophysicists; it also inspired leagues of biologists, engineers and instrumentalists.
Botanica Amelia Merced She said visiting the Arecibo Observatory on a school trip made her realize that she could be a scientist.
“The presence of the largest telescope on this small island, listening to the universe in search of life. It seemed like a dream but it was real”, Merced She said.
que van to demolish it 💔 you have any idea how many Puerto Rican children were inspired by this facility and are now scientists, this is not just a piece of scientific equipment, it is part of our culture and our pride.
todosepudreenelvagondelacolonia https://t.co/COPVWCr1vL
– Dr. Amelia Merced (@AmeliaMerced) November 19, 2020
Shark scientist Melissa Cristina Márquez similarly reflected on what Arecibo meant to her as a Puerto Rican who followed a scientific career all the way to Curtin University in Australia.
“For me it was more than a telescope. It was a beacon of hope: that things and people made in #PuertoRico could thrive on the world stage,” he said. She said.
“Arecibo has shown me that we are important. I’m so, so proud of this telescope and everything it stands for.”
As sad as it will be to see the great Arecibo dismantled, the telescope will certainly remain a fixture for the role it plays in our search for extraterrestrial life and in the hunt for gravitational waves.
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