USRA – Astronomy Now

Arecibo Observatory will keep scanning the skies

16 November 2017 Stephen Clark

Two months after escaping the destruction brought to Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria, the famed Arecibo Observatory will get a new lease on life as the National Science Foundation seeks funding partners to keep the radio telescope aimed at the cosmos.

Arecibo radar telescope battered by Hurricane Maria

22 September 2017 Stephen Clark

Initial reports from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico indicate powerful winds from Hurricane Maria destroyed an antenna and damaged the radio telescope’s huge 300-metre (1,000-foot) dish reflector, but the bulk of the facility remains intact and workers sheltered there were unharmed.

Officials await damage report from Puerto Rico’s famed Arecibo Observatory

21 September 2017 Stephen Clark

Powerful Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on Wednesday, wrecking buildings and disrupting power and communications across the island, home of the iconic Arecibo Observatory used for radio astronomy research.

Arecibo radar captures revealing images of Comet 45P

16 February 2017 Stephen Clark

Though not visible to the naked eye or even with binoculars, the green-tailed Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova did not escape the gaze of the world-renowned Arecibo Observatory.

Undergraduate devises strategy for defending Earth from cometary impacts

18 November 2016 Astronomy Now

Qicheng Zhang is an undergraduate astrophysics major at UC Santa Barbara. A recipient of a Thomas R. McGetchin Memorial Scholarship from the Universities Space Research Association, Zhang’s award-winning work demonstrates that a comet could be manipulated to mitigate a potential impact with Earth by heating it with a high-powered laser array.

Asteroid 2003 SD220 sleighs by Earth on Christmas Eve

24 December 2015 Astronomy Now

During the month of December, the Planetary Radar Group at Arecibo Observatory has observed near-Earth asteroid 2003 SD220, which will make its closest approach to Earth on Christmas Eve. Although designated as “potentially hazardous,” this asteroid will be 28 times further away than our Moon and therefore poses no present danger to Earth.