Arecibo Observatory

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Arecibo Observatory
Arecibo radio telescope SJU 06 2019 6144.jpg
The Arecibo Telescope in 2019
Alternative namesNational Astronomy and Ionosphere Center OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Named after Arecibo   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Organization
Observatory code 251   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Location Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Caribbean
Coordinates 18°20′39″N66°45′10″W / 18.34417°N 66.75278°W / 18.34417; -66.75278
Altitude498 m (1,634 ft) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website www.naic.edu OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Telescopes
  Commons-logo.svg Related media on Commons
National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center
Arecibo Observatory
Nearest cityArecibo
Area118 acres (48 ha)
Built1963
Architect Kavanagh, T. C.
Engineervon Seb, Inc., T. C. Kavanagh of Praeger-Kavanagh, and Severud-Elstad-Krueger Associates [1]
NRHP reference No. 07000525
Added to NRHPSeptember 23, 2008 [2]

The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and formerly known as the Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, is an observatory in Barrio Esperanza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

Contents

The observatory's main instrument was the Arecibo Telescope, a 305 m (1,000 ft) spherical reflector dish built into a natural sinkhole, with a cable-mount steerable receiver and several radar transmitters for emitting signals mounted 150 m (492 ft) above the dish. Completed in 1963, it was the world's largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China. Following two breaks in cables supporting the receiver platform in mid-2020, the NSF decommissioned the telescope. A full collapse of the telescope occurred on December 1, 2020, before either repairs or controlled demolition could be conducted. In 2022, the NSF announced the telescope will not be rebuilt, with an educational facility to be established on the site.

The observatory also includes a smaller radio telescope, a LIDAR facility, and a visitor center, which remained operational after the telescope's collapse. [3] [4] The asteroid 4337 Arecibo is named after the observatory by Steven J. Ostro, in recognition of the observatory's contributions to the characterization of Solar System bodies. [5]

History

As part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) missile defense program, ARPA had sought a means to try to detect incoming missiles while they traveled through the ionosphere. The Arecibo Telescope was funded as a means to study Earth's ionosphere for this purpose, and serving a dual-use as a general-purpose radio telescope. Construction of the telescope and its supporting facilities were started in September of 1960, with the telescope operational by 1963. The telescope and supporting observatory were formally opened as the Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory on November 1, 1963. [6]

Ownership of the observatory transferred from the DoD to the National Science Foundation on October 1, 1969. NSF named Cornell University to manage the observatory's functions. By September 1971, NSF renamed the observatory as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and had made it a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). [6] NASA began contributing towards funding of the observatory alongside NSF as to support its planetary radar mission. [7]

In the early 2000s, NASA started to reduce their contribution to the Arecibo Observatory, putting more pressure on NSF to continue to fund the facility. [8] In 2006, NSF made its first possible suggestion of significantly reducing its funding towards Arecibo and potentially decommissioning the observatory. [9] Academics and politicians lobbied to increase funding bookmarked for Arecibo to stave off its closure, and NASA recommitted funding in 2011 for study of near-earth objects. [10] To further cut losses, in 2011 NSF delisted Arecibo as a FFRDC, removed Cornell as the site operator, and replaced them with a collaborative team led by SRI International, which allowed the observatory to be able to offer its facilities to a wider range of projects. [11]

Damage to the telescope from Hurricane Maria in 2017 led NSF again to consider the possibility of decommissioning the observatory as the costs of maintaining it had become too great. [12] A consortium led by the University of Central Florida (UCF) stepped forward to offer to manage the observatory and cover a significant portion of the operations and maintenance costs, and in 2018, NSF made UCF's consortium the new site operators, [13] [14] though no specific actions were announced.

After an auxiliary and main cable failure on the telescope in August and November 2020, respectively, the NSF announced the decision that they would decommission the telescope through controlled demolition, but that the other facilities on the observatory would remain operational in the future. Before the safe decommission of the telescope could occur, remaining support cables from one tower rapidly failed in the morning of December 1, 2020, causing the instrument platform to crash through the dish, shearing off the tops of the support towers, and partially damaging some of the other buildings, though there were no injuries. [15] NSF stated in 2020 that it was their intention to have the other observatory facilities operational as soon as possible and were looking at plans to rebuild a new telescope instrument in its place. [16] In 2022, the NSF announced the telescope will not be rebuilt, with an educational facility to be established on the site. [17] Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus in San Juan; and the University of the Sacred Heart, also in San Juan were selected by NSF in 2023 to set up and run an education center called Arecibo C3 (Arecibo Center for Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Science Education, Computational Skills, and Community Engagement). [18]

Facilities

Arecibo Telescope

The observatory's main feature was its large radio telescope, whose main collecting dish was an inverted spherical dome 1,000 feet (305 m) in diameter with an 869-foot (265 m) radius of curvature, [19] constructed inside a karst sinkhole. [20] The dish's surface was made of 38,778 perforated aluminum panels, each about 3 by 7 feet (1 by 2 m), supported by a mesh of steel cables. [19] The ground beneath supported shade-tolerant vegetation. [21]

Since its completion in November 1963, the Telescope had been used for radar astronomy and radio astronomy, and had been part of the Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) program. It was also used by NASA for Near-Earth object detection. Since around 2006, NSF funding support for the telescope had waned as the Foundation directed funds to newer instruments, though academics petitioned to the NSF and Congress to continue support for the telescope. Numerous hurricanes, including Hurricane Maria, had damaged parts of the telescope, straining the reduced budget.

Two cable breaks, one in August 2020 and a second in November 2020, threatened the structural integrity of the support structure for the suspended platform and damaged the dish. The NSF determined in November 2020 that it was safer to decommission the telescope rather than to try to repair it, but the telescope collapsed before a controlled demolition could be carried out. The remaining support cables from one tower failed around 7:56 a.m. local time on December 1, 2020, causing the receiver platform to fall into the dish and collapsing the telescope. [15] [22]

NASA led an extensive failure investigation and reported the findings, [23] along with a technical bulletin with industry recommendations. [24] The investigation concluded that "a combination of low socket design margin and a high percentage of sustained loading revealed an unexpected vulnerability to zinc creep and environments, resulting in long-term cumulative damage and progressive zinc/wire failure".

Additional telescopes

The Arecibo Observatory also has other facilities beyond the main telescope, including a 12-meter (39 ft) radio telescope intended for very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) with the main telescope; [25] and a LIDAR facility [26] whose research has continued since the main telescope's collapse.

Panorama arecibo telescope from observation deck.jpg
The Arecibo Radio Telescope as viewed from the observation deck, October 2013

Ángel Ramos Foundation Visitor Center

Logo of the observatory at the entrance gate Arecibo Observatory, sign at entrance gate.jpg
Logo of the observatory at the entrance gate

Opened in 1997, the Ángel Ramos Foundation Visitor Center features interactive exhibits and displays about the operations of the radio telescope, astronomy and atmospheric sciences. [27] The center is named after the financial foundation that honors Ángel Ramos, owner of the El Mundo newspaper and founder of Telemundo. The Foundation provided half of the funds to build the Visitor Center, with the remainder received from private donations and Cornell University.

The center, in collaboration with the Caribbean Astronomical Society, [28] hosts a series of Astronomical Nights throughout the year, which feature diverse discussions regarding exoplanets, astronomical phenomena, and discoveries (such as Comet ISON). The purposes of the center are to increase public interest in astronomy, the observatory's research successes, and space endeavors.

List of directors

Source(s): [29] [ additional citation(s) needed ]

Trivia

The Arecibo Observatory was featured in the James Bond movie GoldenEye, the sci-fi film Contact,and an episode of the X-Files, S02E01, “Little Green Men.”

The Arecibo Observatory was also an inspiration for the Battlefield 4 map 'Rogue Transmission'.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primary mirror</span> Main light-gathering source of reflecting telescope

A primary mirror is the principal light-gathering surface of a reflecting telescope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio telescope</span> Directional radio antenna used in radio astronomy

A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by astronomical objects, just as optical telescopes are the main observing instrument used in traditional optical astronomy which studies the light wave portion of the spectrum coming from astronomical objects. Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can be used in the daytime as well as at night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radar astronomy</span> Observing nearby astronomical objects by analyzing reflected microwaves

Radar astronomy is a technique of observing nearby astronomical objects by reflecting radio waves or microwaves off target objects and analyzing their reflections. Radar astronomy differs from radio astronomy in that the latter is a passive observation and the former an active one. Radar systems have been conducted for six decades applied to a wide range of Solar System studies. The radar transmission may either be pulsed or continuous. The strength of the radar return signal is proportional to the inverse fourth-power of the distance. Upgraded facilities, increased transceiver power, and improved apparatus have increased observational opportunities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Bank Telescope</span> Radio telescope in Green Bank, WV, US

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in Green Bank, West Virginia, US is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope, surpassing the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope in Germany. The Green Bank site was part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) until September 30, 2016. Since October 1, 2016, the telescope has been operated by the independent Green Bank Observatory. The telescope's name honors the late Senator Robert C. Byrd who represented West Virginia and who pushed the funding of the telescope through Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grote Reber</span> American astronomer

Grote Reber was an American pioneer of radio astronomy, which combined his interests in amateur radio and amateur astronomy. He was instrumental in investigating and extending Karl Jansky's pioneering work and conducted the first sky survey in the radio frequencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Very Long Baseline Array</span> Observatory

The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is a system of ten radio telescopes which are operated remotely from their Array Operations Center located in Socorro, New Mexico, as a part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). These ten radio antennas work together as an array that forms the longest system in the world that uses very long baseline interferometry. The longest baseline available in this interferometer is about 8,611 kilometers (5,351 mi).

The Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE) was established by a decision of the European Commission in December 2014, and assumed the activities and responsibilities of the JIVE foundation, which was established in December 1993. JIVE's mandate is to support the operations and users of the European VLBI Network (EVN), in the widest sense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William E. Gordon</span> American astronomer

William Edwin Gordon was an electrical engineer, physicist and astronomer. He was referred to as the "father of the Arecibo Observatory".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sixto González</span> Astronomer; director of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico

Sixto A. González Edick was the Director of the Arecibo Observatory from September 29, 2003, to September 15, 2006. Arecibo Observatory was an astronomical observatory located in Puerto Rico. At the time of González's directorship Arecibo was the world's largest single dish radio telescope. González was the first Puerto Rican in the position of Director of the observatory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coqui (NASA)</span> NASA launched sounding rockets from Vega Baja, Puerto Rico

The Coquí and Coquí II campaign involved a sequence of sounding rocket launches in order to study the dynamics of the E- and F-region ionosphere and increase scientists' understanding of layering phenomena, such as sporadic E layers. The studies were supported by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and carried out in 1992 and 1998 respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope</span> Radio telescope located in Guizhou Province, China

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, nicknamed Tianyan, is a radio telescope located in the Dawodang depression (大窝凼洼地), a natural basin in Pingtang County, Guizhou, southwest China. FAST has a 500 m (1,600 ft) diameter dish constructed in a natural depression in the landscape. It is the world's largest filled-aperture radio telescope and the second-largest single-dish aperture, after the sparsely-filled RATAN-600 in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arecibo Telescope</span> Former radio telescope in Puerto Rico

The Arecibo Telescope was a 305 m (1,000 ft) spherical reflector radio telescope built into a natural sinkhole at the Arecibo Observatory located near Arecibo, Puerto Rico. A cable-mount steerable receiver and several radar transmitters for emitting signals were mounted 150 m (492 ft) above the dish. Completed in November 1963, the Arecibo Telescope was the world's largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, until it was surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in Guizhou, China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tor Hagfors</span> Norwegian physicist

Tor Hagfors was a Norwegian scientist, radio astronomer, radar expert and a pioneer in the studies of the interactions between electromagnetic waves and plasma. In the early 1960s he was one of a handful of pioneering theorists that independently developed a theory that explained the scattering of radio waves by the free electrons in a plasma and applied the result to the ionosphere. He became founding director of the new EISCAT facilities that were then under construction in 1975, by which time he already been director at most of the other incoherent scatter radar facilities in the world. The asteroid 1985 VD1 is named 7279 Hagfors after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helias Doundoulakis</span>

Helias Doundoulakis was a Greek American civil engineer who patented the suspension system for the at-the-time largest radio telescope in the world. During WWII he served in the United States Army and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as a spy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riccardo Giovanelli</span> Astronomer (1946–2022)

Riccardo Giovanelli was an Italian-born American astronomer. He was an emeritus professor of astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida Space Institute</span>

The Florida Space Institute (FSI) is a research institute of the State University System of Florida and the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan T. Schmelz</span> Professor of physics

Joan T. Schmelz is the Associate Director for Science and Public Outreach at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) for the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). Previously, Schmelz was the Deputy Director of Arecibo Observatory and the Director of USRA Operations at Arecibo from 2015 through 2018. Before joining USRA, Schmelz was an NSF Program Director in the Astronomical Sciences Division, where she oversaw the Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship program, and a professor of physics at the University of Memphis from 1996 to 2017. Schmelz's research focus is heliophysics, specifically investigating the coronal heating problem as well as the properties and dynamics of the solar atmosphere. She uses spectroscopic and image data in the X-ray and ultraviolet wavelength ranges obtained from NASA satellites and rockets. She has published over 80 refereed scientific journal articles and authored three books.

George James Doundoulakis was a Greek American physicist and soldier who worked under British Intelligence during World War II with SOE agent Patrick Leigh Fermor, and then served with the OSS in Thessaly, Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yervant Terzian</span> American astronomer (1939–2019)

Yervant Terzian was an American astronomer. He was the Tisch Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Cornell University's Department of Astronomy, which he chaired between 1979 and 1999.

References

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Further reading

https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/2021/07/03/arecibos-50-years-of-discoveries/