Already interested in astronomy, he later saw the dish in person, and the hope of returning guided his decision to specialize in radio astronomy. Hector Arce, a radio astronomer at Yale University, grew up seeing the telescope's massive dish in a poster at his grandfather's house. Working at Arecibo has been a longstanding dream for Puerto Ricans interested in astronomy, even long before the visitor's center energized its outreach efforts. "Obviously, now that possibility is completely off the table." "My first visit was related to that project, and so it has a special place in my heart for that reason it was the first astronomy project I ever did."Īnd before the collapse, she treasured the possibility that after she earned her PhD, she could perhaps find a job at the observatory. in astronomy at Ohio State University, told. "My first research experience ever, not just in astronomy but ever, was in college and it was connected to the Arecibo telescope," Romy Rodríguez-Martínez, now pursuing a Ph.D. With that investment came a suite of other educational and outreach programs to match. The inspirational role of Arecibo Observatory has been particularly strong after the site's visitors' center opened in 1997 it hosts more than 100,000 tourists per year, according to the NSF. Here's what we can learn from Green Bank's collapse. Related: Arecibo isn't the first radio telescope to unexpectedly fail. It trained me to be a scientist, and to think that I could pretty much forge my own career toward science, and it valued my contributions." "If I didn't have the opportunity, I really wouldn't be here, because it exposed me to not only engineering, astronomy and astrophysics, but it exposed me to my current field. "It always comes down to the opportunity of the observatory," Figueroa-Delgado said. While her field of study is nothing related to the radio astronomy, atmospheric studies or planetary science that make up Arecibo Observatory's research legacy, it was through thinking about sustainability in space at the facility's high-school research program that she first encountered the idea of 3D-printed human organs. student in cell biology at Yale University who participated in a high-school research program at the observatory, told "Yes, we have research institutions and labs, but you recognize the observatory in a picture, you know that is in Arecibo and you have heard about it at some point in your lifetime."įigueroa-Delgado is proof of Arecibo's role pointing Puerto Rican students toward careers in science. "This is the only icon of science that we have in the island," Paola Figueroa-Delgado, a Ph.D. Scientist after scientist used the word pride to describe Puerto Ricans' relationship with Arecibo Observatory as the foremost institution of research and education on the island. Related: The Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Puerto Rico has collapsed Loss of an icon It hurts a lot, but I think it hurts more because of the context in which this is happening." And so it hurts a little more, I think, because of that. "Puerto Ricans have been through one trauma after the other, especially since 2017. "Our country is crumbling in front of our eyes," Feliú-Mójer said. "I just can't help but question that lack of urgency, and it feels like a bigger theme that Puerto Ricans have experienced over and over, especially in the last three or four years," Mónica Feliú-Mójer, a neurobiologist and the director of communications and science outreach for the nonprofit organization Ciencia Puerto Rico, told. 1, shattering itself and swaths of the dish.įor Puerto Ricans, and Puerto Rican scientists in particular, it was a painful sight. National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the site. 9, leaving the observatory at the brink of collapse and with a decommission verdict from the U.S. Just as engineers had prepared a plan to address the damage, a second supporting cable snapped on Nov. (Image credit: Courtesy of the NAIC - Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF)įirst, one of the thick cables supporting the radio telescope's massive equipment platform slipped out of its socket in August. The Arecibo Observatory Visitors' Center was mostly undamaged by the telescope's collapse, according to NSF officials.
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