Arecibo Observatory , theworld ’s largest single - dish antenna radio scope , should look familiar to anyone who see GoldenEye or Contact a flock as a kid . But an earthquake near the lookout did some serious damage last calendar month , closely click one of the cables plunk for the reflector platform hovering 450 foot in the air . Talk about a big oops !
turn up in Arecibo , Puerto Rico , theCornell University - operatedobservatory is a grotesque twist , the 1,000 - metrical unit - diam concave reflector guide incoming wave to the nearly 1,000 - gross ton chopine suspend above . Eighteen cables string up between three concrete towers are tax with the job , and whena 6.4 - magnitude quakestruck on January 13th , it did some serious damage to one of those transmission line .
In fact , the cable that set about the most equipment casualty was a known weak head . During the lookout ’s construction in 1962 , a too - short cable was lengthened with a splice , and when the quake come to , that patch cable lost several fibril . As Arecibo Observatory Director Bob Kerrtold Universe Today , “ you might say that our structural Achilles heel was expose . ”
Thankfully , the telescope stay on functional , and it ’s being used with a thin out range of motion while a New York bridge grammatical construction party and Arecibo ’s sustenance staff design a long - term repair . We for sure desire they can fix it , and keep ona 50 yr historyof helping us learn about the universe around us . [ Universe Today ]
Imagecourtesy of the NAIC – Arecibo Observatory , a facility of the NSF
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