Famed SETI Observatory Wrecked After Cable Breaks

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is currently out of commission after a buddy-buddy reinforcement cable descend onto the dish , creating a large slash . It ’s yet another setback for the beloved skill facility , which has n’t full recovered from the desolation of Hurricane Maria .

At around 2:45 a.m. local time on Monday August 10 , a three - inch thick adjuvant cablegram fly onto the observatory ’s main reflecting telescope dishful , creating a 100 - foot - recollective scratch , reportsUCF Today . The transmission line is used to support a metal platform above the lookout station . All scientific work done at the Arecibo facility is on pause , pending repairs . The cause of the cable failure is not yet have it off , nor is cost or time required for the fixes .

Around a half - dozen gore on theGregorian Domewere also damaged when the transmission line fell , as was a platform used to get at the dome . The Gregorian Dome , which rests some 500 feet ( 152 meter ) above the surface of the saucer , houses amulti - ray receivercapable of scanning multiple points in the sky simultaneously .

Damage at the observatory’s main collecting dish.

Damage at the observatory’s main collecting dish.Image: UCF Today

Francisco Cordova , the theater director of the observatory , told UCF Today that a team of expert is appraise the site and that the current focus is “ assuring the safety of our staff , protect the facilities and equipment , and restoring the facility to full operation as presently as potential , so it can cover to assist scientist around the human race . ”

Gizmodo reached out to Arecibo Observatory officials for more selective information and will update this post should we hear back .

construct in 1963 , the Arecibo Observatory , with its 1,000 - fundament - wide disc ( 305 - cadence ) , is one of the most knock-down radio telescopes on Earth , second only to China’sFive - hundred - meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope , or FAST . At Arecibo , scientist conduct all sorts of work , from atmospheric and planetary science through to wireless and radiolocation astronomy and even searches for extraterrestrial intelligence service , also known as SETI . On Tuesday , the prescribed Twitter write up for the SETI Institutetweetedout a characterisation of the legal injury just captioned : “ We have no words . ”

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Abel Méndez , music director of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo , said his team ’s science observations and many others will be check .

“ We finished last workweek observing Barnard ’s Star , ” excuse Méndez in an email . “ We still need to find other lead , including some with potentially inhabitable planet , in the following months . ”

The purpose of these observation are to fix the ways in which reddish gnome stars , likeBarnard ’s Star , move the habitability of their planets . Méndez was also design to enter on a SETI project to detectextraterrestrial technosignatures(i.e . grounds of foreign engineering science ) , which would have leverage both past and future observation at Arecibo . All this now come along to be on grip .

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Méndez ’s observations are n’t time critical , but others might be , include scans for potentially dangerous nearby asteroid .

Six Months After Hurricane Maria , Puerto Rico ’s Famous Telescope Is Still Under Threat

This late incident come less than three class after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico . The tempest causedrelatively modest damageto the Arecibo Observatory , but mending have yet to be completed . The readiness has also been wreck withfiscal uncertainty . The U.S. National Science Foundation recently minify its annual financial support from $ 8.2 million to $ 2 million , with private backer such as Yang Enterprises induce up the deficit .

William Duplessie