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Showing Original Post only (View all)Huge Puerto Rico radio telescope collapses; many mourning [View all]
Source: Phys.org
DECEMBER 1, 2020
Huge Puerto Rico radio telescope collapses; many mourning
by Dnica Coto
A huge radio telescope in Puerto Rico that has long played a key role in astronomical discoveries collapsed on Tuesday, officials said.
The Arecibo Observatory had been shuttered since August after an auxiliary cable snapped and caused a 100-foot gash on the reflector dish. Then a main cable broke in early November, leading the National Science Foundation to declare just weeks later that it planned to close the radio telescope because the damage was too great.
Many scientists and Puerto Ricans mourned the news, with some tearing up during interviews.
It is the second largest radio telescope in the world and had been operating for more than half a century.
2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Read more: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-huge-puerto-rico-radio-telescope.html
I checked AP. I can't find it there. I'll put that up when I get it. I can find a lot of articles saying that collapse is immiment.
The demise happened quickly. Officials just put the antenna off-limits a few months ago. There were threads at DU about that.