Daily Image
04-09-2023
Arecibo Observatory closes science operations - at least for the time being
| Submitter: | Jason Hessels |
| Description: | After 60 years on sky, and a Noble prize, the Arecibo Observatory closed in August 2023 as a facility for active scientific research. It will continue as an educational centre at least. At the time of the collapse of the receiver platform in 2021, the Arecibo 305-m telescope was still pushing the boundaries of astrophysics, including high-profile results like: the discovery of the first-known repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source; the discovery that this FRB is in an extreme environment; the discovery of the FRB `sad trombone' time-frequency drift effect; and tests of Einstein's theory of gravity using a unique pulsar triple system. This is my highly biased selection of FRB and pulsar papers; the observatory was also doing lots of other exciting science, including searching for the stochastic background of gravitational waves via the NANOGrav project. Arecibo has a very special place in my heart, because it's where my career as a radio astronomer started - working on a survey of globular clusters to discover new millisecond pulsars. I spent many days (and nights) in the Arecibo control room, and at one point even sacrificed a pineapple to the telescope - hoping that this would lead to more pulsar discoveries. On the last day of science operations, Arun Venkataraman sent me a farewell picture of the control room. Many thanks to Arun and all of the hard-working, dedicated staff at Arecibo who made so many discoveries possible. There is still hope for Arecibo to resume scientific research, e.g. as a site for ngVLA dishes or with a next-generation Arecibo telescope. Given the enormous scientific legacy of the site, and it's importance to Puerto Rico, I really hope this happens sooner rather than later. |
| Copyright: | Hessels/Venkataraman |
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