Arecibo Observatory (Arecibo)

Puerto Rico / Ponce / Utuado / Arecibo
 museum, observatory, radar station, interesting place, notable by news, movie / film / TV location, closed
The Arecibo Observatory is located approximately 12 miles south-southwest from Arecibo, Puerto Rico (near the extreme southwestern corner of Arecibo pueblo). It is operated by SRI International, USRA, and Universidad Metropolitana under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

The observatory's 305-m radio telescope is the largest single-aperture telescope ever to be constructed. (Compare "multiple aperture telescope".) When functional, it carried out three major areas of research: radio astronomy, aeronomy (using both the 305-m telescope and the observatory's lidar facility), and radar observations of solar system objects. Until its complete structural failure in December 2020, usage of the telescope was gained by submitting proposals to an independent board of referees.

The telescope is visually distinctive and has been used in the filming of two notable motion pictures: as the villain's antenna in the James Bond movie GoldenEye and as itself in the film Contact. The telescope received additional international recognition in 1999 when it began to collect data for the SETI@home project.

The largest radio-telecope in the world.

www.naic.edu/
gallery www.naic.edu/public/about/photos/hires/aoviews.html

www.zeepuertorico.com/lugar/El-Observatorio-de-Arecibo....
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   18°20'47"N   66°45'8"W

Comments

  • Back in the spring of 2010 they also did a Moon bounce for Amateur Radio, and made several QSO's.