Arecibo Observatory is closed for good

摘要

Arecibo's days are done. The platform suspended above the radio observatory's 305-meter-wide dish collapsed on December 1, ending the telescope's 57-year run. Arecibo was already damaged beyond repair after two support cables broke in recent months, the National Science Foundation announced on November 19."It's a death in the family," says astronomer Martha Haynes of Cornell University, who has used the telescope in Puerto Rico to study hydrogen in the universe since 1973. "For those of us who use Arecibo and had hoped to use it in the future, it's a disaster."