The feared but expected collapse of the famed Arecibo radio telescope, in the US territory of Puerto Rico, happened just before 08:00 Tuesday local time (just before 14:00 South African time). Fortunately, there were no injuries. Located in a natural hollow, Arecibo’s dish was spherical, not parabolic, and a 900 t instrument platform was suspended some 137 m above it, by cables connected to three towers. The instrument platform gave the telescope a limited ability to steer radio beams, allowing the telescope to cover a 40˚ arc of the sky above it.
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