Even though the National Science Foundation announced last year that it would not rebuild or replace the iconic Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico — which collapsed in 2020 – a glimmer of hope remained among supporters that the remaining astronomy infrastructure would be utilized in some way. Instead, the NSF announced this week … Continue reading "It’s Official. No More Astronomy at Arecibo"
Honestly, that probably is part of it. That being said, as a radio telescope Arecibo wasn’t really used for asteroids or anything else within the solar system except as a giant transmission antenna. The kind of things Arecibo was designed to observe was radio sources on the far edges of the visible universe.
Honestly, I don’t think another Arecibo is even necessary, it was a product of the technology of the time. In more recent times there’s been a shift towards using networked arrays of radio telescopes, rather than just one big one. The EHT Array used to directly image Sag A* provides an effective aperture that a single telescope could never be able to match.
Honestly, that probably is part of it. That being said, as a radio telescope Arecibo wasn’t really used for asteroids or anything else within the solar system except as a giant transmission antenna. The kind of things Arecibo was designed to observe was radio sources on the far edges of the visible universe.
Honestly, I don’t think another Arecibo is even necessary, it was a product of the technology of the time. In more recent times there’s been a shift towards using networked arrays of radio telescopes, rather than just one big one. The EHT Array used to directly image Sag A* provides an effective aperture that a single telescope could never be able to match.