Observatorio arecibo: Overview | The Arecibo Observatory

Overview | The Arecibo Observatory

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Repairs Update | The Arecibo Observatory

Arecibo Observatory

On August 10th 2020, one of the Tower 4 auxiliary cables that supports the telescope’s platform experienced a failure that resulted in damage to the telescope’s primary reflector dish and the Gregorian dome.
We continue to share updates about the damage and the repairs through community emails as press releases, which you can find below.
The AO team is extremely grateful to the continued support we’ve received from the AO community.

About
Legacy Discoveries
Repairs Update
Materials Transportation

• Management Update (July 21, 2021):
  Current and Future Operations of the Facility
  

  Management

  A message from Mr. Ray Lugo, Director of the Florida Space Institute

  It has been nearly one year since telescope observations at the Arecibo Observatory were halted due to the unfortunate loss of the auxiliary cable that supported the telescope’s iconic platform, ultimately resulting in its collapse on December 1, 2020.

• Management Update (July 19, 2021):
  Facilities and Operations Highlights

  Management

  With a new vision on efficient operations, services, processes, and a healthier work environment in diverse aspects, the team has been planning, organizing and directing the maintenance, executing repairs, renovating buildings and grounds. Following efficient operation and managerial project management best practices, the Facilities and Operations Team has been very successful in the last couple of months.

• Management Update (Apr 7, 2021):
  Statement from the Director

  Management

  The Arecibo Observatory has been a beacon of science and ground breaking discoveries for more than 60 years, helping us better understand the universe around us, and serving as an inspiration to new generations of scientists and engineers across the world. It has also become a part of the culture of Puerto Rico, an iconic place serving as a clear favorite for school trips and family days.

• Management Update:
  Plan Submission (Mar 25, 2021)
  

  Management

  Transportation Plan for the Removal of Debris

  Engineering firms operating at the site of the Arecibo Observatory’s collapsed 305-meter telescope have produced a transportation plan for the removal of debris. The plan will be discussed at an April 5 public meeting, accessible in-person or virtually.

• NSF Media (Dec 3, 2020):
  Footage of the Collapse of Arecibo Observatory 305m Radio Telescope

  Management

  This video was taken from the vantage point of the Arecibo operations building (Building 1), where the Arecibo telescope operators conduct telescope operations. At the center of the video is the telescope platform, including the Gregorian dome. The catwalk, used to walk from the ground up to the top of the platform, is seen to extend from the left side of the frame to the top of the platform.

• UCF Press Release (Nov 19, 2020):
  Arecibo Observatory Telescope to be Decommissioned After Second Cable Break
  

  Management

  Following a review of engineering assessments, the U. S. National Science Foundation today announced it will begin planning the controlled decommissioning of the 1,000-foot-wide telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The observatory, which UCF manages for NSF under a cooperative agreement, has for 57 years served as a world-class resource for radio astronomy and planetary, solar system and geospace research. But a main cable break on Nov. 6 caused the structural integrity of the telescope to come into question.

• UCF Press Release (Nov 13, 2020):
  UCF Delivers Engineering Options for Arecibo Observatory (AO)

  Management

  The University of Central Florida today delivered engineering options to address the Arecibo Observatory to the National Science Foundation.
  UCF manages the facility under a cooperative agreement with Universidad Ana G. Méndez and Yang Enterprises Inc. for NSF.
  A main cable failed at AO about 7:30 pm on Nov. 6. Safety remains the team’s primary concern, so a safety zone has been set up around the reflector dish and only personnel needed to respond to the incident are allowed onsite.

• Management Update (October 12, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova

  Management

  Ray and I made a commitment to our staff and the User Community to provide periodic updates as the work of restoring the Arecibo Observatory to its full capability advances. We continue to make progress, but the process is slow as we develop a comprehensive plan for facility repairs while prioritizing the safety of our staff.
  Our staff, as well as external firms that have been hired, are working diligently to understand the cause of the failure and to return the telescope to normal operations as soon as possible.

• UCF Press Release (Nov 9, 2020):
  A Second Cable Fails at NSF’s Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico
  

  Management

  A main cable that supports the Arecibo Observatory broke Friday at 7:39 p.m. Puerto Rico time.
  Unlike the auxiliary cable that failed at the same facility on Aug. 10, this main cable did not slip out of its socket. It broke and fell onto the reflector dish below, causing additional damage to the dish and other nearby cables. Both cables were connected to the same support tower. No one was hurt, and engineers are already working to determine the best way to stabilize the structure.

• UCF Press Release (Sept 10 2020):
  Update on Arecibo Observatory Facility After Telescope Damage

  Management

  A detailed structural model of the current state of the entire telescope began Aug. 17 and is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.
  Today marks 30 days since the Arecibo Observatory went offline, because an auxiliary cable broke and damaged the dish and Gregorian Dome.

• Management Update (August 28, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova

  Management

  We remain committed to bringing the facility back online as soon as possible. We have been coordinating closely with NSF and NASA, and have established a team that is working on an action plan that focuses on the safety of the staff, and the facility.

• UCF Press Release (August 11 2020): Broken Cable Damages Arecibo Observatory

  Management

  One of the auxiliary cables that helps support a metal platform in place above the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, broke on Monday (Aug. 10) causing a 100-foot-long gash on the telescope’s reflector dish. Operations at the UCF-managed observatory are stopped until repairs can be made.

• Management Update (August 11, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova

  Management

  Early yesterday morning one of the auxiliary cables at tower 4 of the AO experienced a failure.
  Fortunately, there were no resulting injuries to our team. The cable failure damaged 250 panels of the primary dish, as well as 6-8 panels on the Gregorian Dome.

Arecibo (observatory) | this… What is Arecibo (observatory)?

Astronomical observatory Arecibo is located in Puerto Rico, 15 km from Arecibo, at an altitude of 497 m above sea level. Research is being conducted by Cornell University in cooperation with the National Science Foundation (USA), observatory code “251”. The observatory is also National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) ^[1] ).

The Arecibo radio telescope is currently the world’s largest single aperture radio telescope. The telescope is used for research in the field of radio astronomy, atmospheric physics and radar observations of objects in the solar system.

Basic parameters of the radio telescope

• Operating wavelength: from 3 cm to 1 m.
• RF operating range: 50 MHz to 10 GHz
• Focal length: 132.5 m.
• Reflector mirror shape: spherical surface
  • Reflector diameter: 304.8 m.
  • Reflector mirror depth: 50.9 m.
  • Mirror area ≈ 73,000 m².

Design Features

The telescope’s reflector is located in a natural sinkhole and is covered with 38,778 perforated aluminum plates (approximately 1 x 2 m in size) laid on a steel cable mesh. The antenna feed is movable, suspended on 18 cables from three towers.

The observatory has a transmitter with a power of 0.5 MW for conducting research under the program of radar astronomy.

On November 16, 1974, the “Message of Arecibo” was sent from this transmitter.

History

Observatory view

The construction of the radio telescope began in 1960. The original purpose of the telescope was to study the Earth’s ionosphere. The author of the idea of ​​building: Cornell University professor William Gordon ^[2] .

The official opening of the Arecibo Observatory took place on November 1, 1963.

Among the discoveries made at the observatory, it should be noted:

• On April 7, 1964, Gordon Pettengill and R. Dyce corrected the sidereal rotation period of Mercury from 88 days to 59.
• In 1968, measurements of the periodicity of the pulsar in the Crab Nebula (33 ms), and similar measurements for similar objects, which made it possible to confirm the existence of neutron stars.
• In 1974, Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor discovered the first binary pulsar, PSR B1913+16, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993.
• In 1982, the first “millisecond” pulsar, PSR J1937+21, was discovered (Don Backer, Shri Kulkarni and others). The period of revolution of this object is 642 times per second (until 2005 it was the fastest rotating pulsar discovered).
• In 1990, Alexander Volshchan discovered the pulsar PSR 1257+12, in which, upon further study, the first planets outside the solar system were discovered.
• In 1994, surfaces similar in radio-reflective properties to water ice were discovered in the circumpolar regions of Mercury.
• In 2003, the Yarkovsky Effect was first recorded by a group of American scientists.

The observatory in Arecibo is known to the public from several Hollywood films. The giant antenna of the observatory’s radio telescope appeared, for example, in the film “Golden Eye” from the James Bond epic and the film “Contact”, based on the novel of the same name by Carl Sagan.

Since 1999, information from this radio telescope has been fed to the SETI@home project for processing via volunteer computers connected to the Internet ^[3] .

The radar astronomy program is currently expected to close by 1 October 2007 due to funding cuts. Due to lack of funding, the complete closure of the observatory by 2011 is possible ^[4] .

Since September 23, 2008, the Arecibo Observatory has been listed on the US National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under the number 07000525 ^[5] .

Notes

1. ↑ National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) from Wikipedia
2. ↑ William E. Gordon from Wikipedia
3. ↑ status of the feed of the radio telescope – ALFA: Arecibo L-Band Feed Array used in the SETI@home project
4. ↑ Arecibo Observatory from Wikipedia
5. ↑ National Park Service (2008-10-03). Weekly List Actions

See also

• Arecibo message
• Yarkovsky effect
• SETI@home

Links

• Arecibo Observatory Home
• Arecibo Google Maps KMZ Radio Telescope (3D model – KMZ file for Google Earth)
• International Year of Astronomy Around the World with 80 Telescopes video

Coordinates: 18°20′39″ s. sh. 66°45′10″ W / 18.344167° N sh. 66.752778° W ^(G) 18.344167, -66.752778

The famous Arecibo Observatory will be demolished due to a cable break

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico features prominently in our space coverage here on wfoojjaec, so we regret to announce that this legendary radio telescope will be destroyed. It’s not because of a lack of funds or to clear the way for a new dish. The Arecibo dish was damaged in a series of cable failures and the National Science Foundation (NSF) decided it would be too dangerous to repair.

Construction of the observatory began in 1960 and it took three years to get the 1,000-foot (307 meters) spherical reflector up and running. As a radio observatory, the main task of the antenna is to transmit weak radio signals to the receiver, which is located above the characteristic bowl. By moving the receiver with cables, astronomers can collect data from different parts of the sky. Arecibo also has four RF transmitters with a maximum power of 20 terawatts. Astronomers even used this array to relay a message to any aliens that might have lived in a distant globular cluster at 1974 year. This message is called Arecibo.

Designed by Arecibo for decades, it has become an adaptable leader in space exploration, but a few months ago the design changed. On August 10, an auxiliary cable broke loose and fell into the antenna, causing severe damage. NSF began exploring repair options with current Arecibo operators, the University of Central Florida and Jan Enterprises, but tragedy struck again on November 6 when the main cable was cut. This cable also fell into the antenna causing more damage (see above).

An independent engineering review has now been completed and this recommendation is not good news. NSF confirms that repairing an instrument with two failed cables poses an unacceptable risk to workers. The remaining cables hold the 900-tonne receiving platform 450 feet above the dish, well above the safety rating. If the other cable were to break, an uncontrolled collapse could occur, causing the platform and all three support towers to fall into the dish. The only course of action is to demolish the dish, ending the 57-year-old Arecibo mission.

However, decommissioning Arecibo will not be risk-free. There are other facilities in the vicinity of Arecibo that will continue to operate after the observatory disappears.