Why is the original American "Eye of the Sky" radio telescope now like an "abandoned garbage dump"?

Before 20 16, the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, known as the eye of the world, lived up to its reputation. Its diameter is 305 meters, and it is also built on karst landform, which can greatly reduce the amount of work and funds. Some people say: Why do people build such a big telescope? What can you do with it? The eyes are the windows to the soul. For the naked eye, standing high can see far, but there is a limit. If you want to see farther, you need a telescope. If you want to see the sights in space, you need an astronomical telescope. There are many kinds of astronomical telescopes, and radio telescopes are one of them. In addition, there are visible light telescopes, X-ray telescopes, infrared telescopes and ultraviolet telescopes. In short, we can use telescopes of any required band.

For a telescope, if you want to see smaller objects clearly, it depends on the resolution of the telescope. If you want to see weaker light and receive weaker information, it depends on the sensitivity of the telescope. In short, the higher the resolution and sensitivity, the better, which means that you can see more distant worlds and understand their stories.

Arecibo telescope

The Arecibo telescope was founded in 1963, and the design concept is under the responsibility of Cornell University. In the following decades, the telescope was rebuilt many times, and its observation ability was greatly improved. Arecibo telescope mainly observes pulsars, quasars and distant radio sources in the universe. Because of its high sensitivity, it can be observed even if the radio source is weak. Some students may have no idea about being weak. How weak is it? In fact, astronomy is like this. It is incredibly weak and incredibly powerful. For example, the total energy of all radio sources received by all radio telescopes in the world within 60 years is only equivalent to the energy released when a few raindrops fall to the ground. It is conceivable how weak the energy received by a single telescope is. For a telescope with higher sensitivity, you can imagine how weak the radio signal will be.

Academic contribution of Arecibo telescope

Less than ten years after the Arecibo telescope was built, hoels and Taylor observed the distant radio pulse binary system PSR 19 13 16 with the help of the Arecibo telescope. This is a double neutron star system. The two neutron stars revolve around each other with an orbital period of 7.75 hours. Taylor made thousands of observations with the Arecibo telescope. We have mastered their periodic data and used them to verify the prediction of strong gravity system in general relativity. The observed data are consistent with the theoretical prediction, which is the victory of general relativity and the victory of two scientists. 1993, these two scientists won the nobel prize in physics.

199 1 year, two scientists, Foehrer and Voszan, observed the extrasolar planetary system PSR 1257 12 for the first time with the help of Arecibo telescope, which also caused a great sensation in astronomy at that time.

Arecibo telescope is a multifunctional radio telescope. In its working life, radio astronomical observation is the most important, accounting for 80% of the working time, earth atmosphere research accounts for 15%, and radar astronomy accounts for 5%. Scientists equipped it with a transmitter and a sensitive receiver with the wavelength of 12.6cm, so Arecibo telescope has become a super sensitive radar, which can be used for radar research and can detect planets, satellites, asteroids and comets in the solar system. Because Arecibo telescope has made great achievements in radar astronomy, I won't go into details here.

Why did Arecibo telescope fall like A? Abandoned dump? The same degree?

The reason is very simple, always that sentence? Insufficient funds? . Puerto Rico is a small island surrounded by the sea. There are many storms and storms, and they are often baptized by storms. Arecibo telescope has been built for half a century, and its components are seriously aging. Coupled with the research in radio astronomy, the United States also has substitutes, so the Arecibo telescope gradually faded out of the stage. Although Arecibo telescope has been in disrepair for a long time, it can still work before it is damaged in August 2020 10. On August 10, the cable of Arecibo telescope fell and hit the reflecting surface, and the reflecting surface broke a big hole with a crack of more than 30 meters, accompanied by many damages. Therefore, the Arecibo telescope had to stop working and wait for funds. I think it will be a while.