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Video of the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory
Status report from: National Science Foundation
Published: Thursday 3 December 2020
This video, which begins with a view of the top of Tower 4, was taken from the observation point of a drone of the Arecibo Observatory, used to monitor the condition of the support cables of Tower 4.
Four cables are visible in the center of this video. The top cable does not support the telescope platform, but instead supports the walkway described in the narration for the previous video. The three lower cables are, from left to right, M4-1, M4-2 and M4-3. Note that a number of individual strands of the M4-1 and M4-2 cables are noticeably broken at the beginning of this video. The M4-3 cable does not appear to have broken wires at the beginning of this video. The first indication of impending failure is the breakage of another M4-2 wire, accompanied by a puff of “smoke” and splinters of paint flying off the surface of the cable.
Four seconds later the entire M4-2 cable appears to disintegrate. The failure of M4-2 was followed a split second later by the disappearance of M4-1, followed a split second later by the failure of M4-3. The drone operator then swings the drone to see the reflector and the fallen platform, the azimuth arm, the Gregorian dome, the falling cables and the walkway.
The upper section of Towe 12, near the Visitor Center, can be seen tumbling down the hill to the left of the operational building. Tower 12 backstay cables connecting the top of Tower 12 to the ground cause damage behind Tower 12, well away from the edge of the telescope dish.
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