![]() The astronomy practiced at this facility was a far cry from that of the early twentieth century, an era when individual observers staring into optical telescopes still made most discoveries in the heavens. To design the necessary technologies and fund the $9 million dish, the project was a massive collaboration amongst some of the largest and most well funded scientific and government institutions in the U.S., including the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Defense Department, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Cornell University, and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Arecibo dish, completed in 1963, is a prime example of the big science that came to dominate astronomy in the decades after World War II. Since the 1997 modifications, the dish has been used to study galactic gasses, asteroids, and space dust like that found in Saturn's rings. It has undergone two significant technological updates (in 19) and is currently the world's most powerful dish. This dish, measuring 450 feet from top to bottom and covering 18.5 acres of land, is built inside the mouth of a dead volcano. Radio telescopes work best in isolated valleys where there are few extraneous waves to interfere with the data they collect. This radio telescope near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, is the largest telescope in the world. Owner: National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center ![]()
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