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[Catphish]

Opened in 1963, the observatory is currently the world’s second-largest single-dish telescope. On 10 August one of the six 8 cm-wide auxiliary steel cables added in a 1990s upgrade failed. This tore a 30 m gash through the main reflector dish. Then on 6 November one of the dish’s four main cables snapped, transferring the load onto the remaining cables and so making them more likely to fail. The observatory has also suffered hurricane and earthquake damage in recent years.


Yesterday, the National Science Foundation – one of the organizations that manages the observatory together with the University of Central Florida (UCF), Universidad Ana G Méndez and Yang Enterprises – announced that the damaged areas could not be stabilized safely.

Arecibo Observatory will be decommissioned, says US National Science Foundation – Physics World

Astronomers and the public lament the loss of an iconic radio telescope

physicsworld.com

 

[iconmaster]

Honestly it's hard to come back from James Bond.

 

[cormack12]

Ill never forget

 

[Birdo]

An icon of astronomy. RIP.

 

[jason10mm]

Fuck, finally a gofundme worthy of attention!

 

[Insane Metal]

Damn this is sad.

There's a better one out there, in... ahem, China. Sad anyway.

 

[Foamy]

Think I fought there on my Battlefield 4 tour of duty.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Think I fought there on my Battlefield 4 tour of duty.

Thank you for your service.

 

[MetalAlien]

They called for it to be dismantled on Nov 19th. That is Jodie Fosters birthday.

Too late though, it fell down by itself.