Re: [Phys-L] Arecibo is gone

[Anthony Lapinski <alapinski@pds.org>]

Sad news for astronomy.

I visited Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin in the 80s. Fascinating! It was a
refracting telescope with the widest (40 inches) and heaviest lens in the
world. I think itt closed two years ago.

On Tue, Dec 1, 2020 at 12:13 PM John Sohl via Phys-l <phys-l@mail.phys-l.org>
wrote:

>  This is truly devastating and is indeed a sad day for radio astronomy.
> Since two main cables had broken over the past few months the NSF had
> decided that the Arecibo radio telescope was beyond repair.  This morning
> the instrument platform collapsed.  Arecibo was a vital instrument for
> radar imaging of NEA's and was also famous for sending a message toward the
> globular cluster M13.  This great telescope will truly be missed.  It is
> also a great loss for everyone that was working there.
> Here is a link to a short article about it:
>
>
> https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/arecibo-telescope-collapses-ending-57-year-run
>
>
> I am so glad to have visited it about 4 or 5 years ago while it was still
> functioning. The last time I tried to visit they were closed for post
> hurricane repairs about 2 years ago.
> Of course, this is a disaster for astronomy and all the employees. It is
> also terrible for the surrounding communities who relied on both the
> tourist dollars and the educational outreach of the Arecibo museum. On top
> of that, the trickle down of money from the incomes earned at Arecibo that
> helped to support local businesses such as grocery stores and the like. If
> you have never been there, this is not a wealthy area by any definition.
> The recent hurricanes destroyed many of the island's agriculture. In the
> area of Aericbo they grew a lot of things, especially coffee and mangos.
> Most of these people have no safety net. All of Puerto Rico is suffering
> from the loss of tourism to the island because of COVID-19. This is just
> one more blow to the hard hit island.
>
> It is also a reminder that private and public funding of "big" science has
> a lot of ramifications for the economy beyond any discoveries.
>
> John
> - - - -
> John E. Sohl, Ph.D.
> WSU Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Physics
> Weber State University
> 1415 Edvalson St., Dept 2508
> Ogden, UT 84408-2508
>
> Office: TY 326
> Office phone: (801) 626-7907
> cell: (801) 476-0589 (Text me, I don't answer the phone if you are not in
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