Legendary Arecibo Telescope Will Close Forever: History Of Its Accomplishments

Legendary Arecibo Telescope will close forever. (History of its accomplishments)
After more than a half-century of supporting breakthrough scientific work-and providing a scenic backdrop for Contact, GoldenEye and other blockbuster Hollywood films-the iconic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is going dark.
Engineers cannot find a safe way to repair it after two cables supporting the structure broke suddenly and catastrophically, one in August and one in early November.
It is the end of one of the most iconic and scientifically productive telescopes in the history of astronomy - and scientists are mourning its loss.
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“I don’t know what to say,” says Robert Kerr, a former director of the observatory. “It’s just unbelievable.”
The Arecibo telescope, which was built in 1963, was the world’s largest radio telescope for decades and has historical and modern importance in astronomy. It was the site from which astronomers sent an interstellar radio message in 1974, in the hope that any extraterrestrials might hear it, and where the first confirmed extrasolar planet was discovered, in 1992.
It has also done pioneering work in exploring many phenomena, including near-Earth asteroids and the puzzling celestial blasts known as fast radio bursts. All those lines of investigation have now been shut down for good, although limited science will continue at some smaller facilities on the Arecibo site.
“Follow me on this journey to get to know better how the Arecibo radiotelescope worked and which were the most important discoveries made by the Arecibo Observatory during the years!”
The Arecibo Observatory had its origins in an idea of Professor William E. Gordon, from Cornell University, who was interested in the study of the Ionosphere. Gordon's research during the fifties led him to the idea of radar backscatter studies of the Ionosphere. Gordon's persistence culminated in the construction of the Arecibo Observatory which began in the summer of 1960. With its 305m (1000ft) diameter dish constructed in 1963, the Arecibo Observatory continuously provided valuable data for the scientific community and the world.
We would like to celebrate Arecibo's closing reporting some of Arecibo Observatory accomplishments in history.
1965
In 1965 Arecibo Radiotelescope established the rotation rate of Mercury, which turned out to be 59 days than the previously estimated 88 days.
This discovery, one of the earliest major achievements of planetary radar astronomy, astounded astronomers, who sought to explain the new, correct rotational rate. The finding of a value for the rotational period of Mercury which differs from the orbital period is unexpected and has interesting theoretical implications. It indicates either that the planet has not been in its present orbit for the full period of geological time or that the tidal forces acting to slow the initial rotation have not been correctly treated previously.
Working with Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo, an astronomer from the University of Padova visiting the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Shapiro began to develop an explanation for the new rotational period. Colombo, Shapiro recalled, "realized almost immediately that 58.65 days was exactly two-thirds of 88 days. Mercury probably was locked into a spin such that it went around on its axis one-and-a-half times for every once around the planet. The same face did not always face the Sun. That meant that near Mercury's perihelion, that is, when its orbit is closest to the Sun, Mercury tends to follow the Sun around in its orbit. Near perihelion, then, the orbital motion and spin rotation of Mercury were very closely balanced, so that Mercury almost presented the same face to the Sun during this period.
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Credits: Mark A. Garlick / markgarlick.com
Credits: Ron Miller
Credits: Nasa/Shutterstock/Storyblocks/Elon Musk/SpaceX/ESA
Credits: Flickr
Credits: ESO
Video Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:43 Overview
02:27 Earliest Major Achievement
04:01 Crab Pulsar
04:35 First Pulsar in a Binary System
06:15 Arecibo Message
07:25 Geologic Surface of Venus
08:03 Milliseconds pulsars
08:22 Ice in Mercury's North Pole
09:19 20th Century
#insanecuriosity #arecibo #telescope

[@poepeloerke2]

It has collapsed, RIP Arecibo 1963 - 2020 😭

[@tonnie7079]

That's was one hell of a telescope with so many wonderful revelations ... we owe you Arecibo

[@insanecuriosity2682]

We do Anthony, definitely! Glad to see how many people appreciate it just as us.. Thanks fot watching,, hope you enjoyed!

[@tomburns70]

ARECIBO always held a warm spot. Never saw it up close, but it will be remembered fondly - maybe have another incarnation as a RADIO STATION. Your comment is duly noted and really appreciated. Take care, Antony

[@woodfish148]

This is a tragedy among tragedies that has befallen the world. I for one am emotionally devastated and wish that there were some way to repair this antenna without compromising someone's safety.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Hey Daniel, yes we share the feeling with you... Let's not lose hope! Thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed!

[@lukeskywalker7457]

I think the next one should be built on the far side of the moon. It is time to expand the space industry.

[@chrisshort4210]

Second this

[@gomez3357]

Way too expensive

[@lukeskywalker7457]

@@gomez3357 expensive for sure, less radio interference there. If we are going to build another please let it be on the moon and not on earth.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Many things to take into account! But worht considering we believe... Thanks for watching!

[@SugarGliderTribe]

I grew up 40 miles from Arecibo,PR. Beautiful beaches here. Nevermind earth telescopes. Telescopes in space will never be matched by earth telescopes.

[@TheGuyfromValhalla]

_a boricua appears on the horizon_

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Yes that's true...But definitely a great loss for us... Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts with us!

[@20_percent]

If you’re going through rough times, please don’t give up. Better times are coming ❤️

[@sandybarnes887]

I spent years of my computers idle time letting them process SETI data. 😥 The telescope will be missed.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Will do, definitely! Thanks for watching, eventhough these are not good news, hope you enjoyed the video!

[@BangerMovieSpotlight]

Sandy! But why! 10 YEARS! I put into SETI and this is the thanks we get!? The volunteer computing part of SETI@home will stop distributing work and will go into hibernation. We're doing this for two reasons: 1) Scientifically, we're at the point of diminishing returns; basically, we've analyzed all the data we need for now. 2) It's a lot of work for us to manage the distributed processing of data. We need to focus on completing the back-end analysis of the results we already have, and writing this up in a scientific journal paper. However, SETI@home is not disappearing. The web site and the message boards will continue to operate. We hope that other UC Berkeley astronomers will find uses for the huge computing capabilities of SETI@home for SETI or related areas like cosmology and pulsar research. If this happens, SETI@home will start distributing work again. We'll keep you posted about this. If you're currently running SETI@home on your computer, we encourage you to attach to other BOINC-based projects as well. Or use Science United and sign up to do astronomy. You can stay attached to SETI@home, of course, but you won't get any jobs until we find new applications. We're extremely grateful to all of our volunteers for supporting us in many ways during the past 20 years. Without you there would be no SETI@home. We're excited to finish up our original science project, and we look forward to what comes next. Because the advancement in the new GPU technology?? The third generation of Ryzen processors launched on July 7, 2019 and based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture, features more significant design improvements and a further shrink to TSMC's 7 nm process. On June 16, 2020, AMD announced new Ryzen 3000 series XT processors with 4% higher boost clocks versus non XT processors. You don't find it odd Arecibo was destroyed right after they let us go???

[@sandybarnes887]

@@BangerMovieSpotlight kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGSkcoaBp8ScfsU

[@sandybarnes887]

@@BangerMovieSpotlight here's why. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2q6gnyIq8qtsKs. Earthquake

[@TndPnyRCofficial]

I remember this from Goldeneye 007 both the movie and N64 under the name ANTENNA CRADLE

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Good reference there! Thanks for watching, first time?

[@TndPnyRCofficial]

@@insanecuriosity2682 not really. As your videos pop on my feed every now and then. Mainly because (despite me being a lover of cars) I watch astronomy videos at night

[@brianwhiting3280]

A huge blow to mankind's thirst for knowledge. Why couldn't they replace the supports? After all, they were able to get them there in the first place.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

I know...We wonder the same, unfortunately there is not just one direct answer.. Thanks a lot for watching Brian, hope you enjoyed the video despite the bad news!

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

IMHO lack of maintenance and the change of political priorities was the reason for this loss.

[@latonyagreen-warner7402]

Thanks for explaining. I was wondering what was the REAL reason for the closure. I refuse to believe that they were unable to repair 2 cables.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Does play a part...

[@nightlightabcd]

A big thing that you didn't not cover is that a lot of SETI data came from Arecibo!

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Alright, noted! Thanks for the feedback!

[@russmeigs1100]

It could be fixed but who pays for the huge repair cost

[@AmbrotosArkhon]

This comment aged well in the course of a week.

[@innertubez]

Arecibo has been such a world wonder. It is a tragedy that such an amazing piece of technology has to be lost. I suspect budget politics at play.

[@davidmacphee3549]

Budget politics at play? Hope not... It was priceless

[@insanecuriosity2682]

We agree with you...Hard to say for something like this there's always more than just one simple reason... Thanks for watching!

[@amangogna68]

Really sad that the Arecibo Telescope will close forever !

[@MG-er6dm]

Alright. And right on time. 🙂

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

Does Jupiter and other planets have a tidal effect on the "surface" of the Sun? If so, is there a relationship between the moving solar "tide" and Mercury's rotation?

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Hey Gregg, so there has been several debates regarding the effect of other planets to the Sun, since it's not just one simple answer, you can check out this report where the Topic is adressed in a complete way: phys.org/news/2019-05-corroborates-planetary-tidal-solar.html Hope you find it useful! Thanks for watching!

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

@@insanecuriosity2682 Thanks. That was interesting reading.

[@tricky1992000]

it needs preserving... it's part of our heritage, if not it will be talked about in terms of a missing wonder of the world.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Definitely with you...Such an important piece.. Hope you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching!

[@yusufkhan-ig7dv]

This did not age well...

[@horizonbrave1533]

Such an iconic loss... It stands as a testiment to pure human engineering... I really hope they use it's lose to spur on building another. So not to get political, the 2nd biggest is now located in China... I'm wondering if in the coming years that fact will spur more... "US centric" minds to fund another replacement Arecibo that's located back in the West.

[@latonyagreen-warner7402]

We can put a man on the moon but we can’t repair two cables?Is that the only reason?

[@KingBritish]

Years of neglect.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Sure there is some of that too... Such a shame really

[@adolforoman3525]

RIP😢

[@plankedskank]

This map was and is in battlefield4. This will be missed.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

Definitely a loss! Thanks a lot for watching, hope you enjoyed the video even if it's not good news!

[@plankedskank]

@@insanecuriosity2682 facts. I always watch your vids

[@insanecuriosity2682]

@@plankedskank Happy to know that!

[@heklik]

Why did they not repair it ?

[@Destravoxii]

Extremely dangerous which caused the cost to rise astronomically

[@ameliadiaz8040]

😭

[@insanecuriosity2682]

We know Lina...We know..

[@LordLOC]

So wait, we can build this giant telescope like Arecibo in the early 60s but can't repair it in 2020 with current tech? That sounds like a stretch to me. Big loss for Astronomy :(

[@davidmacphee3549]

How did they put the top on the top of the CN Tower again? LOL

[@ameliadiaz8040]

@@davidmacphee3549 Or maybe in the Geographic South Pole.

[@insanecuriosity2682]

We definitely agree... :/ Thanks for watching!

[@tomburns70]

No more James Bond special effects. No more Pearce Brosnan tense moments. With today's technology ARECIBO CAN BE FIXED!! I DON'T BELIEVE IT CANNOT. I KNOW ONCE BEFORE ARECIBO CLOSED. IT HAD GREAT IMPACT ON SCIENCE, EVEN GREATER IMPACT ON IMAGINATION & RADIO ASTRONOMER'S POCKET BOOKS: Then again the population of the the World could care less.They don't even know it exists, never did .ITS YOUR UNIVERSE, SO FAR? I FEEL SOMETIMES AN ALIEN RACE SHOULD COME AND INHABIT IT. MARS - JUPITER-SATURN CONJUNCTION: PEOPLE ARE LETHARGIC. YOU DESERVE NOTHING!

[@fatforward]

are you sure about that?

[@tomburns70]

Silly , I'm only sure about two things? Two CRACK FIENDS in county jail & life on so many other planets & other places ur head would collapse. OH, & KZbin. OH-2, YES!

[@nicotesner1957]

Who els is just a kid that found this channel a few months ago and feels very stupid when you watch these videos and don't know what half of the stuff he's talking about is

[@davidmacphee3549]

It is getting very heavy lately. It was fantastic for young people before most of the time. It has been considered to branch off with a separate side channel with new or older but less intense detail for kids just getting into this stuff.

[@davidmacphee3549]

Anyone think that there might be a Spin-Off "Insane Curiosity for Kids" channel with NO ADDS from about Grade Six ( about age 9 up to 14? )

[@davidmacphee3549]

Nico, How old are you now and how do feel about Space and Science? Also, what part of the world? We are running out of old topics and detailing the newest discovery's so it must get confusing for you as a young member Nico.. Bear with us ....

[@insanecuriosity2682]

It is normal to get confused with terms and topics we don't know, but that is also the way of learning, it's not always quick and evident, so be patient, the more you discover the more you realize how many things you didn't and don't know...Step by step!

[@nicotesner1957]

@@davidmacphee3549 I'm 15. Space and science interest me alot and i think its amazing. I'm in a hostel and one of our teachers love science and space just as much as me and we have talked many times about colonizing mars. Lol. But I'm sure I'll get the terms correct someday. I'm mean, I'm going to have to righ. It's to interesting not to.

[@UtraVioletDreams]

Bey bey Arecibo. Arecibo became a Placebo. 12:07 Yes you will

[@centauria9122]

Then we'll need to head over there within a few hundred years towards finding a way to help defeat the Darkness...

[@gerrieherwijnen1088]

Nintendo 64 James bond, Just saying 👀🔥

[@MrRobjs83]

crazy how the video game became more famous than the movie itself

[@malikbakt]

Now turn of the FAST telescope in China

[@davidmacphee3549]

Apples and Oranges

[@sla00364]

Rip

[@dsolo3250]

I predict it will fall on Tuesday dec 1st 2020

[@gnomeofwar]

You predicted... poorly.

[@julieandpaulmeinhofer9086]

Seems like a bullshit reason.

[@introprospector]

A stock video clip of electrical wires sparking being used to demonstrate tension cable failure is the most hilariously stupid video editing choice I've seen in a while.

[@murrayzichlinsky7475]

While not an accomplishment it was used for SETI

[@msn64man1]

Arecibo observatory 2 nasa newest space observatory

[@louiejohncastillo9822]

the stock footage man, is so irrelevant..

[@davidmacphee3549]

Sad but ... Hubble (a whole different cookie) is doing so well. Not so yet, for JAMES WEBB . The big (yes BIG) question is... Did it really have to break? Did THIS really have to happen? Everything was going along just fine and things got better everyday with no real competition until ....... Sorry ..... "Me go BOOM!" Bye Bye ....

[@beautifulbutterfly140]

WHY DID NASA LET THIS HAPPEND!?

[@russianagent9175]

Cover up. Lying about space.