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Ed RIP Arecibo

theprestige said:
Presumably there are many other radio telescopes around the world that can detect and track NEOs.
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Nope. Radio telescopes are terrible at detecting and tracking NEO's because NEOs don't emit much in the way of radio waves. Note that Arecibo has/had RADAR. RADAR not just "radio".

ETA: Sorry, Looks too much like shouting. But it's an acronym and needs to be emphasized since it's too easy to see "radar" but read "radio" in this context.
 
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RecoveringYuppy said:
Nope. Radio telescopes are terrible at detecting and tracking NEO's because NEOs don't emit much in the way of radio waves. Note that Arecibo has/had RADAR. RADAR not just "radio".

ETA: Sorry, Looks too much like shouting. But it's an acronym and needs to be emphasized since it's too easy to see "radar" but read "radio" in this context.
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Thanks for the clarification. And it turns out there are only a few other radar telescopes out there.
 
In the 1970s, the Arecibo telescope transmitted a message into outer space, in an attempt to contact other intelligent species. Part of that message included a description of the Arecibo telescope.

Now, what happens if the aliens get the message, and come to earth, expecting to see the Arecibo telescope? They will think we are a bunch of liars!

See: Wikipedia
 
Segnosaur said:
Now, what happens if the aliens get the message, and come to earth, expecting to see the Arecibo telescope? They will think we are a bunch of liars!
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That would be better than them thinking we were threatening them with the Death Star I think.
 
arthwollipot said:
Remember, the telescope is more than just the dish. The dish was destroyed when the instrument platform which had been suspended above the dish fell due to the damaged cables - this is probably what they were referring to when they said that the cables were unsafe to repair.

It's not only the dish that is totalled - that instrument platform is as well.
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I wouldn't consider the dish "totaled" -- it appears at least 75% intact. But the instrument platform and it's suspension system is the more important part and that's well and truly wrecked.
 
Trebuchet said:
I wouldn't consider the dish "totaled" -- it appears at least 75% intact. But the instrument platform and it's suspension system is the more important part and that's well and truly wrecked.
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And probably none of the vacuum tubes survived the crash. :sad:
 
theprestige said:
Thanks for the clarification. And it turns out there are only a few other radar telescopes out there.
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Yup, which is why the loss of Arecibo is a significant blow to our NEO detection and tracking. Not a fatal one, but certainly a significant one.
 
Trebuchet said:
I wouldn't consider the dish "totaled" -- it appears at least 75% intact. But the instrument platform and it's suspension system is the more important part and that's well and truly wrecked.
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True about the 75% being intact(ish).
But in order to built a new scope to the same pattern, you’d need to demolish the dish, as the hanging structure was built on the ground and then hoisted up in the air.
Only after that, was there space to build the dish underneath the hanging part.
 
erwinl said:
True about the 75% being intact(ish).
But in order to built a new scope to the same pattern, you’d need to demolish the dish, as the hanging structure was built on the ground and then hoisted up in the air.
Only after that, was there space to build the dish underneath the hanging part.
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Probably wouldn't have to demolish all of it but still a valid point.
 
PhantomWolf said:
Yup, which is why the loss of Arecibo is a significant blow to our NEO detection and tracking. Not a fatal one, but certainly a significant one.
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I guess the certainty of the significance depends on how seriously the effort to track NEOs is being pursued, and how much Arecibo was actually contributing to that serious effort. And how many radar telescopes are actually needed for the work. If all we need is one or two, then bemoaning the loss of the seventh or eighth seems melodramatic.

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On a tangent, what about Chapel Bell? Apparently of the Apollo missions included experiments with DEW radars tracking one of the Saturn stages after separation. I wonder if there's been any experiments done with DEW radars illuminating NEOs and (non-radar) radio telescopes tracking the reflection.
 
Trebuchet said:
I had a "wait, what?" moment while watching that earlier. "Tower 4"? There are only three! Later he mentioned "Tower 8" and "Tower 12". Oh. It's a clock.
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Oh, duh. I was mystified by the same thing because I could only see three towers. Now I get it.
 
Video footage of the collapse has just been released.
The first segment is a ground level view, then there is footage from an inspection drone that just happened to be at the right tower to see the cable snap.

 
rdaneel said:
Video footage of the collapse has just been released.
The first segment is a ground level view, then there is footage from an inspection drone that just happened to be at the right tower to see the cable snap.

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:(
 
theprestige said:
I guess the certainty of the significance depends on how seriously the effort to track NEOs is being pursued, and how much Arecibo was actually contributing to that serious effort. And how many radar telescopes are actually needed for the work. If all we need is one or two, then bemoaning the loss of the seventh or eighth seems melodramatic.

---

On a tangent, what about Chapel Bell? Apparently of the Apollo missions included experiments with DEW radars tracking one of the Saturn stages after separation. I wonder if there's been any experiments done with DEW radars illuminating NEOs and (non-radar) radio telescopes tracking the reflection.
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I think Aricebo was also the most power RADAR telescope that we had. To what extent that matters for NEO tracking, I don't know.
 
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