San Juan (AFP)
Puerto Rico's famous Arecibo telescope collapsed Tuesday after 57 years of service, a spokesperson for the National Science Foundation and a local astronomer told AFP.
"The platform (of the observatory, editor's note) collapsed in an unplanned manner," confirmed Rob Margetta, spokesperson for the institution that finances the observatory.
Two cables supporting the 900-ton telescope instruments above the 305-meter-diameter parabola broke on August 10 and November 6, prompting the US National Science Foundation to announce its dismantling.
Access to the telescope had since been prohibited for fear of collapse.
Only drones inspected the structure.
No injuries were therefore reported.
The collapse of the observatory "is an absolute disaster," reacted, moved, Professor Abel Méndez, director of the planetary habitability laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo, to AFP.
This astronomer had to cancel training courses at the observatory next year, a blow to his students.
"It's a sad day for astronomy," commented on Twitter several astronomers and scientists.
It is also a sad symbol of the deterioration of the situation on the American island, hard hit in recent years by hurricanes and whose infrastructure is slow to be rebuilt.
Even if we do not know at this stage the cause of the breakage of the cables.
A tool for many astronomical discoveries, the radio telescope was one of the largest in the world.
The announcement of its dismantling had - already - moved many professional and amateur astronomers, especially on Twitter under the hashtag "WhatAreciboMeansToMe" (what Arecibo means to me).
"More than a telescope, Arecibo is the very reason why I do astronomy", testified Kevin Ortiz Ceballos, a local astronomer.
An action scene from the James Bond film "GoldenEye" took place above the telescope, and in the film "Contact" an astronomer played by Jodie Foster used the observatory in her quest for alien signals.
© 2020 AFP