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12/02/2020 11:24 am  #1


December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant



The Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico lasted for 67 years, constructed over a sinkhole which housed its 1,000-foot-diameter collecting dish.  Recently, it was announced that it would be dismantled because of failures in the structure, but it decided not to wait for its execution and collapsed yesterday.  This image is from Sciencemag.org

Wikipedia link for more numerical facts etc

The telescope was used in the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, and scientific discoveries aided by the telescope include that Mercury spins faster than previously thought and has icy caps, and the discovery of the first binary pulsar. More at Forbes

This is how it used to look:
[img]https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wHib7ExWTYXc8Gg34jHl15QMk1E=/0x0:5351x3567/920x613/filters:focal(2248x1356:3104x2212):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68042486/1229684803.0.jpg[/img]
that image is from The Verge


 


The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity  Amelia Earhart
 

12/02/2020 1:06 pm  #2


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

Let's point fingers.

 

12/02/2020 1:34 pm  #3


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

It was me.  I'm sorry.


The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity  Amelia Earhart
     Thread Starter
 

12/02/2020 2:11 pm  #4


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

your Mama's   so fat   that..


signature s c h m i g n a t u r e
 

12/02/2020 7:26 pm  #5


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

yebbut your Papa's so dumb that......


The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity  Amelia Earhart
     Thread Starter
 

12/02/2020 9:13 pm  #6


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

Pretty sad.  I heard on the radio that it was the preeminent science facility on the whole island.  Tours by schoolchildren, etc. etc.


Be Just And Fear Not
 

12/02/2020 9:56 pm  #7


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

I went to college with a guy from Puerto Rico, and shortly after I met him, he told me proudly of the observatory and asked if I knew of it.  That was 1985, so it was only 32 years old then.

 

12/03/2020 4:51 pm  #8


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

I first heard of it in a number of sci-fi movies... it was always the observatory they picked to be the one to notice the aliens.

 

12/03/2020 5:19 pm  #9


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

This is a bummer.


If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis Brandeis
 

12/03/2020 9:48 pm  #10


Re: December 2, 2020: Collapse of a Giant

 

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