(Find out why this hurricane season has been so catastrophic.) News about the facility has been primarily coming from Arecibo telescope operator Ángel Vazquez, who managed to get to the site and start communicating via short-wave radio in the early evening of September 21.Īccording to initial reports, the hurricane damaged a smaller, 12-meter dish and it caused substantial damage to the main dish, including about 20 surface tiles that were knocked loose. It also has an on-site helicopter landing pad, so making sure the facility is safe in general is not just of scientific importance, but is also relevant for local relief efforts. Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, reports Arecibo deputy director Joan Schmelz.īecause of its deep water well and generator, the observatory has been a place for those in nearby towns to gather, shower, and cook after past hurricanes. More importantly, the observatory’s staff sheltering on-site are safe, and the facility is in good enough condition to potentially serve as a local center for the U.S. Arecibo and other radars observing the asteroid detected it had two unexpected companions, or moons.Īrecibo is also famous for its use as a location in films, such as Contact and GoldenEye.Scientists and ham radio operators have confirmed that the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico-arguably the world’s most iconic radio telescope, which has a dish stretching a thousand feet across-has come through Hurricane Maria mostly intact, but with some significant damage. One recent target of Arecibo was the triple asteroid Florence, which passed more than 4 million miles (7 million kilometres) from Earth on Sept. The giant radio telescope has also sent signals into the Universe to probe for extraterrestrial life, and listened for signs of transmissions coming from other worlds. 6, sparing the observatory significant damage.Ĭonstructed in the early 1960s, the Arecibo Observatory is the world’s second-largest radio telescope, with its dish antenna nestled inside a natural karst depression.Īstronomers use Arecibo to investigate asteroids, planets, pulsars, galaxies and dark matter. Hurricane Irma passed just north of the island Sept. Hurricane Maria’s landfall in Puerto Rico marked the second time in two weeks Arecibo prepared for a tropical cyclone. The staff planned to secure the telescope, facilities and research equipment. Officials at Arecibo Observatory announced Monday they began hurricane preparations. The access road leading to the observatory is still covered in debris and inaccessible, officials said.Ī weather station at Arecibo detected sustained winds of 78 mph (126 kilometres per hour) Wednesday morning, with gusts measured up to 108 mph (174 kilometres per hour), according to the National Hurricane Center. “We will need a full assessment of the damage, repairs that are needed and when the observatory can resume observations,” said Nicholas White, senior vice president for science at Universities Space Research Association. Credit: USRAĪ 12-metre (39-foot) dish used as a phase reference for Very Long Baseline Interferometry was also lost, according to USRA. The 430 MHz radar line feed is seen extending to the lower right in this image. Arecibo uses different equipment for radio astronomy observations, but still relies on the same huge dish reflector. The 430 MHz line feed was used to transmit and receive radio waves for atmospheric research. But the dish suffered several punctures when a 29-metre (96-foot) line feed antenna fell from a catenary more than 100 metres above the reflector, officials said. The main dish of the famed telescope, which spans 305 metres (1,000 feet) across, was reported intact. While electricity and standard communications lines remain out, reports from the observatory were transmitted via shortwave radio, USRA said in a statement. USRA is part of a multi-institution team charged with operating Arecibo Observatory by the National Science Foundation. Staff and family members who rode out the storm at the observatory Wednesday are safe, but officials are still trying to contact other employees who sheltered in their homes and other safe places, according to the Universities Space Research Association, or USRA. Initial reports from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico indicate powerful winds from Hurricane Maria destroyed an antenna and damaged the radio telescope’s huge 300-metre (1,000-foot) dish reflector, but the bulk of the facility remains intact and workers sheltered there were unharmed.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |