World’s Largest Radio Telescope
Image from Panoramio is by AMartinez
Image from Panoramio is by Talavan
This bizarre looking thing is the largest single-aperture radio-telescope ever constructed. It is part of the observatory complex known as Arecibo Observatory located near the town of Arecibo in Puerto Rico. The main collecting dish is 305 metres in diameter and is constructed inside the natural depression caused by a sinkhole.
The strange looking platform seen in the photographs and in the aerial view is basically the receiver, located on a 900-ton platform suspended 150 metres in the air above the dish by 18 cables running from three reinforced concrete towers, one of which is 110m high and the other two of which are 80 metres high so that the tops of the three towers are at the same elevation. The platform has a 93 metres long rotating bow-shaped track called the azimuth arm on which receiving antennas, secondary and tertiary reflectors are mounted.
The telescope is also a main part of SETI@home (Wikipedia) - The project for searching signals from Extra-terrestrial Intelligence.
Due to its distinctive and strange shape it has been used in many films/TV serials notably in the James Bond movie GoldenEye (as the villain's antenna), Contact (based on Carl Sagan’s novel) and in the "X-Files" episode "Little Green Men".
View Larger Map View in Google Earth
Source of info: Wikipedia
The strange looking platform seen in the photographs and in the aerial view is basically the receiver, located on a 900-ton platform suspended 150 metres in the air above the dish by 18 cables running from three reinforced concrete towers, one of which is 110m high and the other two of which are 80 metres high so that the tops of the three towers are at the same elevation. The platform has a 93 metres long rotating bow-shaped track called the azimuth arm on which receiving antennas, secondary and tertiary reflectors are mounted.
The telescope is also a main part of SETI@home (Wikipedia) - The project for searching signals from Extra-terrestrial Intelligence.
Due to its distinctive and strange shape it has been used in many films/TV serials notably in the James Bond movie GoldenEye (as the villain's antenna), Contact (based on Carl Sagan’s novel) and in the "X-Files" episode "Little Green Men".
View Larger Map View in Google Earth
Source of info: Wikipedia
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