The Unforgettable Services of the Arecibo Telescope, the World’s First Alien Finder

JAKARTA – Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which made Earth’s first attempt to contact aliens , forming nearly six decades of pioneering cosmic research. Its collapse in December last year was preceded by two cable failures and a National Science Foundation (NSF) decision to deactivate and dismantle telescope , marking the end of an era. Also read: The NASA Hubble Telescope Sees Changes in the Seasons on the Planet Saturn

Yet Arecibo leaves a rich legacy of scientific discoveries spanning 57 years. The data collected before the telescope is destroyed will continue to inform the study of distant asteroids, planets and galaxies, which researchers recently reported on.

Live Science reported, scientists outlined Arecibo’s enduring contribution to radio astronomy in a presentation on March 19 at the 52nd Moon and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC). The presenters wrote that Arecibo left “an indelible mark on planetary science, radio astronomy, and space and atmosphere science” and they expressed their sorrow at its collapse.

Created in 1963, the Arecibo telescope dish, which is 305 meters wide, is the largest and most powerful radio telescope in the world. It broadcasts Earth’s first attempt to contact extraterrestrials (aliens) – the Arecibo Message – in 1974, sending pictorial letters into space that include simple images of humans; the Arecibo telescope; formula for DNA; diagram of our solar system; and some chemicals for life, according to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute.

Arecibo is helping astronomers measure the rotation of Mercury and Venus for the first time. He detected the first known exoplanet orbiting a pulsar, in 1990. The observatory observed Saturn’s rings and mapped the Moon’s surface.

“The telescope even verifies Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity and deduces the existence of gravitational waves,” said the researchers at the LPSC.

Telescopes have also revolutionized the use of radar to study and track asteroids that orbit near our planet. “Arecibo collects important data about its physical properties, satellites and orbits, enabling NASA to calculate the risk that asteroids might pose to Earth,” said Patrick Taylor, a senior scientist at the University Space Research Association at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve greatly expanded how many observations we’ve made of asteroids near Earth, with Arecibo and with radar in general,” Taylor told Live Science.

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