From the University of Central Florida - https://www.ucf.edu/news/broken-cable-d ... servatory/
"One of the auxiliary cables that helps support a metal platform in place above the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, broke on Monday (Aug. 10) causing a 100-foot-long gash on the telescope’s reflector dish. Operations at the UCF-managed observatory are stopped until repairs can be made.
The break occurred about 2:45 a.m. When the three-inch cable fell it also damaged about 6-8 panels in the Gregorian Dome and twisted the platform used to access the dome. It is not yet clear what caused the cable to break.
'We have a team of experts assessing the situation,' says Francisco Cordova, the director of the observatory. 'Our focus is assuring the safety of our staff, protecting the facilities and equipment, and restoring the facility to full operations as soon as possible, so it can continue to assist scientists around the world.'"
From NPR - https://www.npr.org/2020/08/12/90192063 ... ling-cable
"A broken cable at Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory has torn a gaping 100-foot hole in the dish of one of the largest radio telescopes in the world, taking the instrument offline until repairs can be made.
Arecibo's massive reflector dish, which is built inside a sinkhole in northern Puerto Rico, was damaged when a 3-inch diameter support cable unexpectedly snapped before dawn on Monday, according to the University of Central Florida, which manages the observatory."
From Space.com - https://www.space.com/arecibo-observato ... -down.html
"One of the telescope's supporting cables snapped early Monday morning (Aug. 10), ripping a 100-foot-long (30 meters) gash in the giant radio dish, according to the University of Central Florida (UCF). The observatory has been shut down while engineers assess the damage and formulate a fix."
An image of the split cable which caused the damage. (Credited to the University of Central Florida)
An image of the damage, as seen from the edge of the dish. (Credited to Phil Perillat)
No injuries were caused as a result of the damage.
EDIT: More pertinent information suggesting the location of the point of failure
This page has some images which may point out what exactly went wrong.
- http://www.naic.edu/~phil/hardware/tele ... main4.html
Dated the tenth of August this year, this seems to be a log of some sort of edit made to a page.
The content suggests what I mentioned in my post prior, that the cable somehow came loose from the socket it was embedded in and whiplashed out, rather than fraying and splitting somewhere between the socket and its other anchor point.
Directly from the above page:
"On 10aug20 at 02:35:55 ast the auxiliary main cable from tower 4 (north aux main cable #301) came out of the socket at the tower and fell into the dish. When the cable fell, the operator stopped the telescope."
This page also has a list of photos (all credit to Phil Perillat).
- This photo seems to further correlate what I've said. There seems to be at least two anchor points visible on the tower within the image. The one to the right has a cable anchored inside it. The one on the left seems to be the one which came loose.
- This image seems to show what may be the wire dangling from its other anchor point, above the Gregorian dome.
- Another image showing the wire limply draped over the railing of what may be a supporting strut on the radio telescope's instrument modules.
- Here's what seems to show the cable's split end lying on what presumably is the aluminum-plated surface of the radio dish itself. I'm not certain if this image was taken after the cable has been manipulated by workers, or if that's where it was found.
The Arecibo Radio Telescope is one of the most precious and valuable instruments available to astronomy and the study of the universe. Since its completion in 1963, the Arecibo Observatory has played a significant role in many scientific endeavors, including pinpointing of the correct duration of a day on Mercury (sourced here), the discovery of the first binary pulsar (sourced here), and directly imaging an asteroid for the first time (which may be viewed here). It is also instrumental in verifying predictions of asteroid impacts to the Earth. The Arecibo Message of 1974, a radio message directed at the M13 globular cluster containing very basic information on humanity and the origin point of the transmission, is perhaps the Observatory's finest work (more information on the message may be found here, credited to the SETI Institute).
However, Arecibo is vulnerable. It's built in Puerto Rico, where hurricanes and other natural disasters are known to occur. In 2017, Hurricane Maria, which battered the island and caused significant damage, was responsible for minor injuries to the Observatory. The Observatory, despite its fifty years, is frequently updated to keep its workers safe and the structures sound.
The Observatory is an incredible machine. Its radio and radar capabilities have allowed it to image stellar bodies which would have been practically invisible to other telescopes. It has played a critical role in the advancement of our understanding of the Solar System, and the universe beyond. To lose the Arecibo Observatory could be one of the greatest setbacks to astronomy, with this incident reminding me of how important it is to keep the Observatory safe, secure, and running.
So, I'm tossing it to you, NSG. What say ye on the damage to the dish? Is the Observatory even worth keeping operational?
