
Broken Cable Damages Arecibo Observatory - robin_reala
https://www.ucf.edu/news/broken-cable-damages-arecibo-observatory/
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leptoniscool
Really unfortunate, with the budget cuts it may not be repaired for a while.
Is it possible for them to accept donations like from a go fund me page?

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overlordalex
Already covered here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24128877](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24128877)

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deathanatos
Yes, but this source has photos. BI's website appears to try, but requires JS
to load the photos, and the JS crashes unless it can access cookies.

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Tepix
That's really unfortunate. It appears to have been substantial damage. I hope
it can be repaired within the often rather tight budget constraints of the
Arecibo observatory. This radio telescope deserves more funding!

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supernova87a
Is Arecibo doing 1st rate astronomy still? Is it likely that there will be a
huge call (or justification) for funding to repair this quickly? Versus
spending the $ on other students/research programs? I wonder how much the $
bill is -- maybe on the order of <$5M?

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hughes
It absolutely is still relevant and important. This is a huge blow to ongoing
radio astronomy.

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vidanay
Does anyone know what the purpose of the irregular height columns are under
the dish? They appear to be uniform spacing, but not height.

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zamadatix
Other comment is correct on their purpose
[https://youtu.be/JjDJLNubKKw?t=259](https://youtu.be/JjDJLNubKKw?t=259)

I don't think any are intentionally different heights. Part of it could be the
thing was built nearly 60 years ago but also it doesn't need to be perfectly
accurate to securely be tensioned.

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vidanay
I would bet they had a standard construction form (2 meter tall Sonotube, etc)
and they simply dug down until they reached the rock and poured the concrete.
Like you say, they height doesn't matter since it will be referenced from some
other datum.

