(Deepshikha Gautam, Intern Journalist) Puerto Rico: Arecibo, one of the world’s most important observatories that have sat on the earth for more than half a century and helped solve astronomical mysteries, collapsed completely on Tuesday. This radio telescope in Puerto Rico had been going through a bad situation for a long time. How big this loss is, it can be guessed that Ada Monjan, the Meteorologist of the country, could not stop the tears flowing from his eyes while giving information about this.
Ada said that all efforts were made to save Arecibo. Its 900-ton platform fell 400 feet down to the reflector dish. Earlier, the US National Science Foundation announced that Arecibo would be closed. The NSF has stated that no one was injured and expressed grief in the incident. It has also stated that more methods will be worked to help the scientific community and to strengthen relations with the people of Puerto Rico.
Arecibo’s auxiliary cable was cut in August, leading to a 100-foot cut on a 1000-foot-wide reflector dish. Due to this, the platform hanging above was damaged. The main cable broke in early November. Scientists considered it the world’s largest radio telescope and the science world is shocked by this incident. Astronomer and Professor Carmen Pantoza at the University of Puerto Rico has described it as a major loss.
Dr. Jonathan Freedman, a scientist who worked at Arecibo for decades, described the incident as a ‘storm’. He said that at first, it seemed as if an earthquake had occurred.
It felt like a rain or snowstorm. The thunder continued for a while. Meteorologist Deborah Martorell has expressed displeasure over the incident, saying it could have been avoided. He said the bureaucracy sat and waited for the NSF to collapse the platform. He said that Arecibo was the gem of the science world and it is difficult to believe that it is no longer there.
The biggest concern and disadvantage is that now a weapon has been reduced to warn of the dangers coming from space towards the earth. Arecibo was such a large and powerful radio telescope that scientists used to study huge space rocks in space. Anne Virky, who leads the planetary radar team here, says no other system can replace Arecibo so easily. Its radar transmitter used to send light to an object which collided and returned, then its radio dish used to hold this signal. This gave scientists information about the position, shape, and surface of asteroids.
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