Es el mas grande e impresionante radiotelescopio del mundo......localizado en Arecibo Puerto Rico...el radiotelescopio fue construido en medio de una gran depresion del terreno ..el plato mide mas de 300 metros de diametro ,la mas alta de sus tres torres mide 150 metros ...es una maravillas de la tecnologia ,donde cientificos del mundo hacen sus investigaciones sobre vida en nuestro sistema solar y miles de visitantes amantes de la astronomia se maravillan de las dimensiones del radiotelescopio......

Tengo el privilegio de vivir a solo 10 km ...les dejo algunas de MIS FOTOS...

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/3789/plato12jn.jpg

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9484/radiotelescopio26le.jpg

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/6711/antena17au.jpg

wow

una foto mas...

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/474/radiotelescopio14wc.jpg

les agradeceria que algun moderador mueva es post a ZONA LIBRE...

Siempre me ha impresionado sobremanera este telescopio!!! Maravilloso!! :cheers:

arecibo :cheers:

lo deberian de limpiar un poco

Impresionante !

lo deberian de limpiar un poco

TU TODO LO CRITICAS SUFRES COMO DE ENVIDIA :bash:

les agradeceria que algun moderador mueva es post a ZONA LIBRE...

Aquí está bien Wally, no es una vivienda, pero es una estructura y muy importante por cierto.

absolutamente impresionante

En ese no fue donde grabaron unas escenas de James Bond (007)

que impresionante pero perdonen mi ignorancia pero en que se usa un radio telescopio??

En ese no fue donde grabaron unas escenas de James Bond (007)


Eso es lo que me parecio tambien.

Si, ahí se filmó parte de la película Goldeneye.

Aquí hay otra foto más amplia:

http://www.astrosurf.org/lombry/Documents/arecibo-pedro_torres.jpg

Asi es,.... ahi grabaron una escena de James Bond la de Golden Eye

inclusive en el juego de Nintengo 64 de golden Eye, tambien hay un nivel de la antena... Yo era fan de ese juego jeje.

que impresionante pero perdonen mi ignorancia pero en que se usa un radio telescopio??

En las montañas del noreste de PR, asentado entre las colinas cársicas de esa región, se ubica el Observatorio Ionosférico de Arecibo, el más grande e importante centro de investigación en su categoría sobre la faz de la tierra.

Su inmenso plato - más grande que 12 canchas de fútbol juntas- descansa en un sumidero natural apuntando eternamente al universo. Este plato receptor ha sido sintonizado para detectar los sonidos más discretos que generan las estrellas más lejanas del espacio sideral.

Desde aquí se han descubierto los planetas que se ubican fuera de nuestro sistema solar, además de ser la base oficial de NASA SETI (Search for Extra- Terrestrial Intelligence).

Es un verdadero espectáculo de belleza tecnológica que hay que presenciar. De hecho, el Observatorio de Arecibo es tan grande que figura como el único lugar de Puerto Rico que puede ser visto desde un jet, ¡a 33 mil pies de altura !

Ojala no se moleste Wally, pero yo esta majestuosidad la considera no solo orgullo boricua sino latinoamericano. Gracias por traer fotos de este radar inter-espacial, yo solo e sabido de el por medio de las peliculas de Hollywood. Viva Puelto Rico!!!

Eso es lo que me parecio tambien.

Tambien la de CONTACT con esta chica Judy Foster

En el radiotelescopio se filmaron las pelicula Golden Eyes y Contact......es un orgullo para toda latinoamerica.......

wao! simplemente imprecionante!!

esta super impresionante

felicidades boricua, debes sentirte orgulloso!!!

simplemente impresionante no hay mas que decir

Pues alex537 tiene razón xD

Siempre he dicho que deben darle mejor mantenimiento al plato jajajajaja

Pero es un orgullo para mi tener el Radio Telescopio mas grande del mundo en Arecibo ^^

Yo lo vi en persona en el 2007, cuando fui de excursión con la clase de mi colegio, nos dijeron que ahi caben 12 canchas. Pero lo mas que me sorprendió es que hay unos zapatos especiales para poder caminar por el plato. espero volver.:)

Las primeras dos fotos las saqué Yo en el 2007. El resto las conseguí en Flickr.

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z255/djcaro91/DSC00852.jpg

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bnas fotos alexis! :okay:

Tremendas esas pics alexis me acuerdo cuando fuimos aquella vez que sacaste fotos ...

Mirada al cometa verde desde Arecibo (http://www.elnuevodia.com/miradaalcometaverdedesdearecibo-811533.html)
El radiotelescopio estudia al Hartley 2, que será visitado hoy por la nave Deep Impact. Mira las fotos
Encuentro cercano con el Hartley 2
Por Pedro Bosque Pérez pbosque@elnuevodia.com

El radiotelescopio de Arecibo es utilizado para estudiar al cometa Hartley 2, que será observado de cerca hoy, jueves, por la nave Deep Impact, enviada hace varios años por la NASA al espacio.

De acuerdo a los análisis hechos con el radiotelescopio, el núcleo del cometa Hartley 2 tiene unas 1.4 millas de largo, rota cada 18 horas y viaja a una velocidad de 23 millas por segundo, informó la Sociedad de Astronomía de Puerto Rico (SAPR).

El Hartley 2 es de color verde y ha sido fotografiado desde Puerto Rico por astrónomos aficionados.

Encuentro cercano

La sonda Deep Impact viaja a unas 7.8 millas por segundo y se acercará a las 11:00 a.m. de hoy a unas 434 millas del cometa, reveló la SAPR.

Previo al Hartley 2, la nave Deep Impact estudió al cometa Tempel, del 1 al 4 de julio de 2010.

De acuerdo a la SAPR, la misión de la Deep Impact permitirá entender lo que sucedió hace 4.5 mil millones de años así como obtener datos del núcleo del cometa para compararlo a otros, dado que el Hartley 2 es muy distinto a otros cometas.

La SAPR destacó que la misión de la nave Deep Impact es única dado que es la primera vez que se estudia con los mismos instrumentos a dos cometas, el Tempel y el Hartley 2.

Las cámaras de la Deep Impact tienen una resolución de siete metros por píxel, por lo que captarán al cometa verde en detalle.

05 Noviembre 2010
Avanzan las obras en el Observatorio de Arecibo (http://www.elnuevodia.com/avanzanlasobrasenelobservatoriodearecibo-812060.html)

El costo de las mejoras asciende a $3 millones. Mira las fotos (http://www.elnuevodia.com/XStatic/endi/template/content.aspx?se=multimediafotodetalle&fa=812312)

Por Gerardo E. Alvarado León / galvarado@elnuevodia.com

A un costo de $1.5 millones, al menos dos de las obras que actualmente se realizan en el Observatorio de Arecibo están a punto de completarse, informó ayer el director ejecutivo de la Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Infraestructura (AFI), Humberto Marrero.

Dichas obras son la instalación de cuatro generadores de diesel de un megavatio cada uno, con su respectivo equipo de transferencia e interruptores, y la construcción de un edificio con techo removible para facilitar su mantenimiento.

"Estas obras son parte de los trabajos de construcción y mejoras que se realizan en el Observatorio gracias a una aportación legislativa de $3 millones. AFI llegó a un acuerdo de asistencia administrativa y financiera con la Universidad de Cornell, que es la entidad que está a cargo del desarrollo de las obras", dijo Marrero.

Explicó que los nuevos generadores reemplazan el generador existente, que no cumple con los actuales estándares de emisión.

Marrero indicó que otras obras en vías de desarrollo en el Observatorio son las mejoras al Centro de Visitantes a un costo de $500,000; así como la limpieza y pintura de las torres de concreto, específicamente de los cables de apoyo y el andamio que permiten su mantenimiento, a un costo de $250,000.

Asimismo, se completará la carretera que lleva a la antena de 12 metros de diámetro a un costo de $150,000. Esta última obra comprende la instalación de vallas de seguridad y medidas para prevenir la erosión en la vía.

Marrero agregó que erigir el Edificio de Ingeniería incluye la planificación, el diseño, la construcción, la instalación de equipos y muebles, así como el proceso de obtención de permisos y contingencias, a un costo de $300,000.

"Con la aportación de $3 millones el Gobierno apoya el ámbito de la investigación científica y los servicios que el Observatorio ofrece a la comunidad puertorriqueña e internacional", concluyó.

UMET to take role in running Arecibo Observatory as facility changes hands (http://caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=57528&ct_id=1&ct_name=1)
By CB Online Staff
cbnews@caribbeanbusinesspr.com

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/4129/arecibooo.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/577/arecibooo.jpg/)

A consortium including Metropolitan University (UMET) is taking over the reins of the Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio telescope.
The federal facility has been run for decades under a long-term contract with New York’s Cornell University.

However, the National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the Arecibo Observatory, put its operation up for bid amid an ongoing budget crunch surrounding the facility.

That bid was won by a consortium including SRI International, Universities Space Research Association (USRA), and other institutions, Don Kniffen, vice-president for science at USRA, told Nature.com.

It was originally reported that the University of Puerto Rico is part of the consortium. However, it is UMET that is taking part.

UMET, in the Cupey area of San Juan, is part of the private Ana G. Méndez University System (SUAGM for its Spanish initials). SUAGM has three colleges in Puerto Rico — UMET, Turabo University and Universidad del Este — and three campuses in Florida.

UMET officials were meeting on the matter Friday morning and were expected to provide details on its participation later in the day.

The National Atmospheric & Ionospheric Center (NAIC), which includes the Arecibo Observatory, will move from Cornell to the consortium.

The shakeup at the Arecibo Observatory was first reported on the Nature.com website, which said the NSF has asked consortium members not to go public with the move pending the establishment of a transition process scheduled to start June 1. The NSF call for bids says the management team that submitted the winning proposal will be in place at the start of the new federal fiscal year Oct. 1.

The observatory’s association with Cornell University dates back to its founding. It was designed in the early 1960s by Bill Gordon, a Cornell University engineer who managed it for a time after its opening in 1963. Gordon died in 2010.

Kniffen said that the budget for staff was lower in the consortium’s bid than in Cornell’s.

With the onset of the new management contract, the NSF will decertify the NAIC as a federally funded research & development center (FFRDC).

“Decertification of NAIC as a FFRDC reflects a change only to the federal administrative regulations applicable to NAIC and does not imply any change in NAIC’s continuing status as a center of excellence for multidisciplinary scientific research,” the NSF said in its call for bids.

The agency said the decertification actually opens the NAIC to additional outside collaboration.

Funding concerns have shadowed the Arecibo Observatory in recent years as the NSF has taken steps toward its eventual decommissioning. The scientific community and Puerto Rico government officials have lobbied strongly against that scenario.

Planetary scientists argue that the dish is unmatched in mapping near-Earth asteroids. Island officials stress its research value and its role as an economic development engine and tourism attraction.

NSF funding for the NAIC was $10.7 million in fiscal year 2010 and has been lowered to $8.2 million for the years 2012 through 2016. NASA has pledged to pitch in another $2 million per year.

The consortium reportedly does not foresee layoffs at the Arecibo Observatory despite its lower staff budget.

“We have no plans to lay anybody off but we costed it with a few less staff,” Kniffen told Nature.com, adding that the consortium hopes to retain as many of the incumbent staff as possible aside from some natural attrition.

“We very much want to continue and expand on the wonderful science Arecibo has done,” he said.

With the largest radio-telescope in the world, the Arecibo Observatory is involved in a world-renowned effort to find signs of alien life. Scientists working there have made the first discovery of planets outside our solar system, created the first three-dimensional map of the distribution of galaxies in the universe and undertook a Nobel Prize-winning effort to find the first known binary pulsar.

Some 250 scientists carry out investigations there annually, and a number of students undertake important work there to earn advanced degrees. The observatory doubles as a popular tourism attraction drawing an estimated 100,000 people every year, including 25,000 students. It pumps about $50 million annually into the local economy.

Within a year of opening, it was used to determine the planet Mercury’s period of rotation. After radio pulsars — rotating neutron stars — were discovered in 1967, the observatory played a prominent role in studying their properties.

The astronomers Joseph Taylor and Russell Hulse discovered the first binary pulsar at Arecibo in 1974, leading to a 1993 Nobel Prize in physics.

In 1990, Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan used the telescope in the discovery of a pulsar in the constellation Virgo that was shown to be orbited by the first known planets beyond Earth’s solar system.

The telescope had a prominent role in the 1997 Jodie Foster film “Contact,” based on a Carl Sagan book about the search for extraterrestrial life — a hunt that still continues at the observatory. In the 1995 James Bond movie “GoldenEye,” the telescope’s platform figured in the climactic fight scene.

“When we were talking about building (the telescope) back in the late ‘50s, we were told by eminent authorities it couldn’t be done,” Gordon said at Arecibo’s 40th Anniversary in 2003. “We were in the position of trying to do something that was impossible, and it took a lot of guts and we were young enough that we didn’t know we couldn’t do it.”

These days, the telescope’s work includes searching for asteroids and comets headed for Earth. It also discovered lakes of hydrocarbons on Saturn’s moon Titan.

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, Puerto Rico will lose its decades-long standing as home to the world’s largest radio telescope.

The Arecibo Observatory has held the title since it opened in 1964. The 305-meter wide (1,000 feet ) parabolic dish draws tens of thousands of visitors annually and has racked up a series of important scientific discoveries over the decades.

But halfway around the world there’s a bigger competitor on the horizon.

The storied Arecibo facility will finally be surpassed, in size at least, by a similarly designed radio telescope being built in the Guizhou province of China.

China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is expected to come online in 2014, a half-century after Arecibo first opened its ears to the universe.

FAST’s dish, at 1,640 feet in diameter, will be more than 50 percent larger than Arecibo and will offer radio astronomers a deeper, wider window on the most distant objects in the cosmos.

Besides its size, FAST has another advantage over Arecibo: flexibility. While Arecibo’s dish is immovable, the 4,600 panels that make up FAST’s dish can be adjusted to vary the dish’s shape from spherical through parabolic, thus allowing the telescope to focus on a much greater area of the sky.

Still, the Arecibo Observatory will keep the size crown for several years and remain a thriving center for scientific investigation. The dish, which sits sunken in a limestone depression in the mountains of Arecibo, will likely not see its track record of important discoveries eclipsed quickly by FAST.

Change Rattles Arecibo Radio Telescope (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=change-rattles-the-worlds-bigg)
After nearly half a century, Cornell University loses stewardship of the renowned Arecibo radio telescope.
| May 24, 2011

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By Eugenie Samuel Reich of Nature magazine

As Earth's biggest "ear" on the Universe, the giant 305-meter radio dish at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, has played a part in groundbreaking discoveries, searches for alien civilizations and the occasional Holly¬wood movie. Now a different sort of drama is shaking up the facility, with the news that Cornell University, which has managed Arecibo since the observatory was switched on 1963, has lost its bid to continue to do so. Instead, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has offered the job--and the $41.2-million five-year contract that goes with it--to a consortium that includes SRI International, a non-profit research institute based in Menlo Park, California; the Universities Space Research Association in Washington, D.C.; and the Metropolitan University in Puerto Rico.

The decision means an abrupt switch in the status of about 100 scientists, engineers and support staff at the observatory, who will no longer be on the Cornell payroll. "All of our staff are somewhat disoriented because they've been here 20, 30, 40 years and never considered they wouldn't be Cornell employees," says Sixto González, assistant director of space and atmospheric science at Arecibo and the site's former director.

Rumors of the change first appeared on the Internet last week and have since been confirmed by Cornell. "We wish SRI good luck in living up to the incredibly high standards we have set," says Ira Wasserman, chairman of Cornell's astronomy department.

Robert Kerr, a former director of Arecibo who was principal investigator on the successful bid, says that, to ensure a smooth transition, for the first year nothing will change about how applications for time on the facility are processed. Beyond that, Kerr says, partners in the consortium are "likely to bring forward new ideas and new science."

One thing that will change right away is the location of the observatory's director. Under Cornell, Arecibo's director was based remotely at the university's campus in Ithaca, N.Y. Under the consortium, the director--expected to be Kerr--will work on site.

Héctor Arce, an astronomer at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, says it was widely felt that Cornell didn't do enough to partner with other institutions on the island. "That might have hurt Cornell," he says. In addition to including the Metropolitan University on the bid, the consortium will sponsor faculty positions at the University of Puerto Rico and will create a commission that will study other ways in which local institutions can get more involved with Arecibo.

Donald Campbell, a Cornell astronomer and the current director of the observatory, says Cornell submitted a serious proposal based on partnerships with seven institutions, including the University of Puerto Rico.

But Juan Arratia, an electrical engineer at the Metro¬politan University in San Juan, says that the Puerto Rican government supported the SRI consortium's bid through the government-owned Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, the office of tourism and the Department of Education. Arratia, who led Metropolitan's part of the bid, expects that government sources will contribute around $5 million per year to the observatory. "That would be a real plus," says John Salzer, an astronomer at Indiana University Bloomington who works with data from Arecibo.

Astronomers rallied to support Arecibo after its closure was recommended in a 2006 NSF review. The facility is now likely to remain the most sensitive instrument of its kind for the foreseeable future. A 500-meter radio dish under construction in Guizhou, China, will not reach the higher frequencies that Arecibo can detect. The Square Kilometer Array, to be built in Australia or South Africa, would surpass Arecibo, but its construction is not expected to begin for several more years.

UMET evaluates Arecibo Observatory infrastructure, prepares to take reins (http://caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=58368&ct_id=1)
By : AURA N. ALFARO
aura@caribbeanbusinesspr.com


Universidad Metropolitana (UMET) has kicked off the $250,000 first phase of its takeover of daily operations at the Arecibo Observatory.
The agenda includes the transition of 37 employees to the institution’s payroll, conducting equipment inventory, and evaluating possible repair work the research facility will require.

UMET is part of a multi-organization consortium recently awarded a $42 million, five-year cooperative agreement by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to manage, operate and maintain the world’s largest and most sensitive single-dish radio telescope, preeminent for its research in astronomy, planetary studies, and space and atmospheric sciences.

The team, led by SRI International — formerly the Stanford Research Institute — includes Universities Space Research Association (USRA), local universities UMET and University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and researchers at the observatory, a NSF facility which has been run by New York’s Cornell University since its opening in the early 1960s.

The team will work together under the leadership of Robert Kerr, Ph.D., SRI’s director designate of the Arecibo Observatory.

The contract kicks in at the start of the new federal fiscal year on October 1 following a four-month transition period.

Of the $42 million, UMET will receive $17.8 million during the five years to operate and maintain the observatory, said Chancellor Federico Matheu, in an interview with CARIBBEAN BUSINESS.


UMET, in the Cupey area of San Juan, is part of the private Ana G. Méndez University System (SUAGM for its Spanish initials). SUAGM has three colleges in Puerto Rico — UMET, Universidad del Turabo, and Universidad del Este (UNE) — and three campuses in Florida.

Matheu revealed UMET will receive $150,000 for the first phase of the takeover, which includes the transitioning of 38 Cornell employees to the university’s payroll, and conducting inventory of equipment and other needs, he added.

The funds also cover the assessment of the physical condition of the observatory, including its Visitors Center, and a 20-room hotel on the property that accommodates 40 people.

The observatory doubles as a popular tourism attraction, drawing an estimated 80,000 people every year, including some 20,000 students. It pumps about $50 million annually into the local economy.

UMET hired a group of engineers on June 1 to assess the property, Matheu said, adding this stage is scheduled to conclude Sept. 30.

Research, education and tourism

UMET brings expertise in education, public outreach and facilities management, and will cover site operations and education and public outreach activities at the observatory. UPR will sponsor joint faculty appointments and will develop education and research opportunities.

During the five years, both UMET and UPR will each receive $600,000, which they will have to match, for research projects at the observatory by both professors and students.

UMET will also develop graduate programs in astronomy and planetary sciences with Spain’s Higher Council on Research, and be involved in developing the observatory’s potential as an educational facility for elementary to high school students, teacher training, and creating science curriculums.

Matheu said the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Co. (Pridco) is expected to contribute funds to stimulate research by students at the observatory.

The observatory will be promoted as an internal tourism attraction by the UNE, with the help of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., and the Angel Ramos Foundation.

The UMET chancellor said the Angel Ramos Foundation, cofounder of the visitors center and a contributor since its creation, recently wrote to the UMET confirming it will contribute $750,000 for the five years for the expansion of the center and construction of a planetarium, for grades K-12.


“Something completely new will be the doctorate programs scheduled to begin in August 2012,” Matheu said.

SRI and the USRA will leverage their science operations and management experience to enhance and develop observatory capabilities in radio astronomy, planetary radar science, and space & atmospheric science.

The USRA will receive a $9 million during the five-year span, and is expected to hire the 24 scientists and several technicians currently working at the observatory, according to Matheu, who also disclosed NASA has pledged $10 million during the five years for asteroid research.

The National Atmospheric & Ionospheric Center (NAIC), which includes the Arecibo Observatory, will move from Cornell to the consortium. With the onset of the new management contract, the NSF will decertify the NAIC as a federally funded research & development center (FFRDC), which supposedly opens the NAIC to additional outside collaboration.

Arecibo Observatory was designed in the early 1960s by Bill Gordon, a Cornell University engineer who managed it for a time after its opening in 1963. Gordon died in 2010.

It is involved in a world-renowned effort to find signs of alien life. Scientists working there have made the first discovery of planets outside our solar system, created the first three-dimensional map of the distribution of galaxies in the universe and undertook a Nobel Prize-winning effort to find the first known binary pulsar.

Asteroide que se acerca a la Tierra es captado desde Arecibo (http://www.elnuevodia.com/asteroidequeseacercaalatierraescaptadodesdearecibo-1113902.html)
El enorme asteroide pasará más cerca que la distancia entre la Tierra y la Luna
Vídeo: Imágenes del asteroide (http://www.elnuevodia.com/videos-noticias-nasamuestraprimerasimagenesdeasteroidegigante-1164382728001.html)


POR ELNUEVODIA.COM
Una inmensa roca espacial se acerca a nuestro planeta, por lo que el Observatorio de Arecibo analiza su trayectoria, forma y tamaño con mucha precisión, informó la Sociedad de Astronomía del Caribe (SAC).

El asteroide 2005YU55 pasará más cerca que la distancia entre la Tierra y la Luna, y estará en su punto más cercano al planeta cerca de las 7:28 p.m. del martes 8 de noviembre, indicó la SAC.

"Si las condiciones del tiempo lo permiten, esperamos captar imágenes desde Puerto Rico a través de telescopios ya que pudiera ser avistado con la ayuda de estos", señaló la entidad educativa en un parte de prensa.

La SAC explicó que aunque el Observatorio de Arecibo no realiza observaciones visuales u ópticas, sí tiene la capacidad de obtener imágenes por radar.

"Le envían señales de radio que rebotan en la superficie y de este modo se puede obtener una imagen que muestra la silueta o forma del objeto", explicó la organización.

De hecho, las imágenes por radar que existen del Asteroide 2005YU55 fueron obtenidas desde Arecibo el año pasado, y muestran que la roca es esférica o bastante redonda.

Más grande que un crucero

"Estamos hablando de una roca enorme, más grande que un crucero", dijo Eddie Irizarry, presidente de la SAC, al destacar que el asteroide mide unos 1,300 pies de diámetro.

La roca pasará a unas 202,000 millas de la Tierra, mientras que la Luna orbita al planeta a una distancia de unas 240,000 millas.

Aún así, "se trata de una distancia totalmente segura y no afectaría la Tierra en lo absoluto", aclaró la SAC.

Aunque se sabe que este asteroide no representa peligro durante el paso cercano del martes, algunos estimados sugieren que el impacto de una roca espacial de este tamaño provocaría un cráter de entre 4 y 7 millas de diámetro, o hasta más grande.

Irizarry mencionó como ejemplo un cráter que existe cerca de la ciudad de Flagstaff, en el estado de Arizona.

"Ese mide 1.2 kilómetros de diámetro y se sabe fue ocasionado por una roca de 150 pies de diámetro, por lo que podemos decir que el impacto de un asteroide como el que está acercándose (de 1,300 pies) pudiera ocasionar un cráter de al menos 10 kilómetros (6.25 millas).

Extinciones por golpes de asteroides

La SAC destacó la importancia de que se puedan detectar y analizar las rocas espaciales que se acercan a la Tierra al señalar que en el planeta hay más de 100 impactos de asteroides.

Añadió que en el pasado, han ocurrido unas 10 extinciones masivas, la mayoría vinculadas a enormes asteroides.

Otras rocas espaciales que pasarán notablemente cerca del planeta se acercarán a la Tierra en el 2028, 2029 y 2036.

Un asteroide denominado 2001WN5 mide sobre 4,500 pies de diámetro y en junio del 2028 pasará casi a la mitad de la distancia de la Tierra a la Luna.

Otro que tendrá un notable acercamiento será el asteroide Apophis, que en Abril del 2029 estaría pasando a sólo 18,000 millas de distancia.

"Eso sí es muy cerca, incluso más bajo que la altura a la que orbitan los satélites de televisión, aunque se calcula que no impactaría la Tierra", indicó la Sociedad Astronómica del Caribe.

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2271/4221779340.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/253/4221779340.jpg/)
Corbis Images (http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/42-21779340/night-photo-of-the-arecibo-observatory)



http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4457/5403820628b4fd3c6fc6z.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/i/5403820628b4fd3c6fc6z.jpg/)

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5006/5399309714cd302c1694z.jpg (http://img440.imageshack.us/i/5399309714cd302c1694z.jpg/)
Jose Francisco Salgado (http://www.flickr.com/photos/josefranciscosalgado/5399310170/in/photostream/)

Buenas fotos!!

Arecibo in spotlight as asteroid nears (http://caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=64249&ct_id=1&ct_name=1)
By CB Online Staff
cbnews@caribbeanbusinesspr.com

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2707/spacerocka.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/spacerocka.jpg/)

Astronomers will enlist the Arecibo Observatory to get a good look at an asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier that will dart between the Earth and moon on Tuesday — the closest encounter by such a huge rock in 35 years.
An asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier will dart between the Earth and moon on Tuesday — the closest encounter by such a huge rock in 35years.

But scientists say not to worry. It won’t hit.

“We’re extremely confident, 100 percent confident, that this is not a threat,” said the manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program, Don Yeomans. “But it is an opportunity.”

The asteroid named 2005 YU55 is being watched by ground antennas as it approaches from the direction of the sun. The last time it came within so-called shouting distance was 200 years ago.

Closest approach will occur at 6:28 p.m. Tuesday when the asteroid passes within 202,000 miles of Earth. That’s closer than the roughly 240,000 miles between the Earth and the moon.

The moon will be just under 150,000 miles from the asteroid at the time of closest approach.

Both the Earth and moon are safe — “this time,” said Jay Melosh, professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University.

If 2005 YU55 were to plow into the home planet, it would blast out a crater four miles across and 1,700 feet deep, according to Melosh’s calculations. Think a magnitude-7 earthquake and 70-foot-high tsunami waves.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9125/arecibshot.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/408/arecibshot.jpg/)

Scientists have been tracking the slowly spinning, spherical, dark-colored object since its discovery in 2005, and are positive it won’t do any damage.

“We know the orbit of this object very well,” Yeomans said.

The asteroid stretches a quarter-mile across. Smaller objects come close all the time, Yeomans noted, but nothing this big will have ventured so close since 1976. And nothing this large will again until 2028.

Radar observations from California and Puerto Rico will help scientists ascertain whether the asteroid is pockmarked with craters and holds any water-bearing minerals or even frozen water.

Amateur astronomers would need a 6-inch-or-bigger telescope and know exactly where to look to spot it.

Astronomers consider 2005 YU55 a C-type asteroid — one containing carbon-based materials. “It’s not just a whirling rock like most of them,” Yeomans said.

Such objects are believed to have brought carbon-based materials and water to the early Earth, planting the seeds for life. The discovery of water-bearing minerals or ice would support that theory, Yeomans said.

This is the type of asteroid that NASA would want to aim for, with astronauts, Yeomans said, especially if frozen water is found. Such asteroids could serve as watering holes and fueling stations for future explorers, he said.

An asteroid is actually on NASA’s short list for destinations.

President Barack Obama wants astronauts headed to an asteroid and then Mars in the coming decades. That’s why the 30-year space shuttle program ceased this summer — so NASA could have enough money to get cracking on these new destinations.

As for an actual strike by an asteroid this size, that’s estimated to occur once every 100,000 years or so.

An asteroid named Apophis — estimated to be 885 feet across — will venture extremely close on April 13, 2029 — but will not strike. It has a remote chance of hitting Earth when it comes around again on April 13, 2036.

Scientists said information gleaned from 2005 YU55, as well as other asteroids, will prove useful if and when it becomes necessary to deflect an incoming Armageddon-style rock.

The YU55 asteroid falls under the category of a “potentially hazardous asteroid because its orbit intersects that of the Earth. However, despite some fear mongering in recent months, astronomers say the space rock will sail past the earth by a comfortable margin.

Still, astronomers are jumping at the chance to carefully observe an asteroid that is close in astronomical terms.

Asteroids are basically space rocks ¯ debris created when the solar system was formed. YU55 is a moderate-size asteroid — about 1,300 feet wide, or about the width of four football fields stretched end to end. Radar images taken in 2010 by the Arecibo Observatory revealed that it appears to be spherical in shape and rotates in about 18 hours.

That same year, an optical telescope revealed the rock to be a C-class asteroid, meaning it’s probably darker than charcoal and contains a lot of carbon.

In addition to the Arecibo Observatory’s unmatched 1000-foot radio telescope, there are plans to use NASA’s Deep Space Network of radio telescopes to “watch” the asteroid.

Astronomers will be able to see features on this rock as small as two meters across, “which means we’ll actually get some interesting images of it,” Discover magazine said.

The asteroid will only be 1/100th as bright as the faintest star viewable with the unaided eye — so skywatchers will need a decent-sized (12.5 cm at least) telescope to see it,” blogger Phil Plait said on Discovery’s website.

Observing the small and dark asteroid will be tough, but you can get more info on how to do it at the Minor Planet site and on The Minor Planet Bulletin.

Arecibo Observatory back in the spotlight

Radar observations from the Arecibo Observatory will begin early Tuesday, the same day the asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth.

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During tracking, scientists will use the Arecibo antenna to bounce radio waves off the space rock. Radar echoes returned from the asteroid will be collected and analyzed. Arecibo radar observations of the asteroid made in 2010 show it to be approximately spherical in shape. It is slowly spinning, with a rotation period of about 18 hours. The asteroid’s surface is darker than charcoal at optical wavelengths.

The last time a space rock as big came this close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers did not know about the flyby at the time. The next known approach of an asteroid this large will be in 2028.

NASA detects, tracks, and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called Spaceguard, discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

The asteroid tracking adds another chapter in the history of the Arecib Observatory. It is involved in a world-renowned effort to find signs of alien life. Scientists working there made the first discovery of planets outside our solar system, created the first three-dimensional map of the distribution of galaxies in the universe and undertook a Nobel Prize-winning effort to find the first known binary pulsar.

Funding concerns have shadowed the Arecibo Observatory in recent years as the National Science Foundation has taken steps toward its eventual decommissioning. The scientific community and Puerto Rico government officials have lobbied strongly against that scenario.

Planetary scientists argue that the dish is unmatched in mapping near-Earth asteroids. Island officials stress its research value and its role as an economic development engine and tourism attraction.

NSF funding for the National Atmospheric & Ionospheric Center (NAIC), which includes the Arecibo Observatory, was $10.7 million in fiscal year 2010 and has been lowered to $8.2 million for the years 2012 through 2016. NASA has pledged to pitch in another $2 million per year.

The Arecibo Observatory was designed in the early 1960s by Bill Gordon, a Cornell University engineer who managed it for a time after its opening in 1963. Gordon died in 2010.

A consortium including Puerto Rico’s Universidad Metropolitana (UMET) and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) was awarded a five-year, $42 million contract to run the Arecibo Observatory starting this year. The facility had been run by Cornell University since its opening in the early 1960s.

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, Puerto Rico will lose its decades-long standing as home to the world’s largest radio telescope.

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The Arecibo Observatory has held the title since it opened in 1964. The 305-meter wide (1,000 feet ) parabolic dish draws tens of thousands of visitors annually and has racked up a series of important scientific discoveries over the decades.

But halfway around the world there’s a bigger competitor on the horizon.

The storied Arecibo facility will finally be surpassed, in size at least, by a similarly designed radio telescope being built in the Guizhou province of China.

China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is expected to come online in 2014, a half-century after Arecibo first opened its ears to the universe.

FAST’s dish, at 1,640 feet in diameter, will be more than 50 percent larger than Arecibo and will offer radio astronomers a deeper, wider window on the most distant objects in the cosmos.

Besides its size, FAST has another advantage over Arecibo: flexibility. While Arecibo’s dish is immovable, the 4,600 panels that make up FAST’s dish can be adjusted to vary the dish’s shape from spherical through parabolic, thus allowing the telescope to focus on a much greater area of the sky.

Still, the Arecibo Observatory will keep the size crown for several years and remain a thriving center for scientific investigation. The dish, which sits sunken in a limestone depression in the mountains of Arecibo, will likely not see its track record of important discoveries eclipsed quickly by FAST.

¿Participa la Universidad de Puerto Rico, de forma directa, en la administración y uso del Radiotelescopio de Arecibo?

No. Creo que es la Universidad Metropolitana.

Sé que Cornell es la que lo administró antes; y ahora el plan es traspasarlo a la UMET.

No es traspasarlo, ya esta traspasado. Es un consorcio entre SRI International (Stanford Research Institute), USRA (Universities Space Research Association) y la UMET.

La Umet me sigue impresionando, realmente están llevando la educación universitaria en Puerto Rico a otro nivel.

En encuestas de esta naturaleza juzgo las obras a base de la estética. En esta ocasión no me agrada mucho y por eso le di un 5. Sin embargo, el lugar en sí merece un 10 por lo único que es en las Antillas y también por lo importante que es en su rama científica.

Unico en las Antillas y en el mundo. Al menos hasta que China termine el suyo.

Es de los más sensibles de los que existen en la actualidad, antes del 2010, ...

Continua siendo el mas sensitivo de todos los radiotelescopios del mundo. Solo el de China superara al nuestro una vez este operando pero mientras no.

Nuevos planes para el Observatorio de Arecibo (http://www.elnuevodia.com/nuevosplanesparaelobservatoriodearecibo-1179224.html)
Entre las iniciativas está la construcción de un planetario y el desarrollo de un programa doctoral en astronomía y ciencias del espacio.

Mira las fotos (http://www.elnuevodia.com/fotodetalle-secongelanlostermometroseneuropa-812312.html)

Por Gerardo E. Alvarado León / galvarado@elnuevodia.com
ARECIBO – La nueva administración del Observatorio de Arecibo presentó hoy algunos de los proyectos que desarrollará durante los próximos cinco años y que buscan elevar este centro de investigación a otro nivel.

El Observatorio, que por 45 años estuvo bajo la administración de la Universidad Cornell, ahora es manejado por la Universidad Metropolitana (UMET), el Consorcio SRI International y The Universities Space Research Association (USRA).

El rector de la UMET, Federico Matheu, y el presidente del Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez, José Méndez, informaron que una de las metas es lograr que 50 mil estudiantes visiten el Observatorio anualmente.

Otros planes incluyen la construcción de un planetario, el desarrollo de un programa doctoral en astronomía y ciencias del espacio.

“Estamos orgullosos de todo lo que hemos logrado hasta este momento y muy entusiasmados con nuestros planes futuros y su impacto en el desarrollo económico, oportunidades educativas e investigaciones científicas para Puerto Rico”, dijo Méndez.

El Observatorio, inaugurado el 1 de noviembre de 1963, alberga el radiotelescopio más grande y sensitivo del mundo.

Muy bien por la UMET, haciendo lo que nunca hizo Cornell y lo que ni si quiera se atrevio hacer la UPR.

Puerto Rico touts new plans for giant telescope

February 2, 2012
by The Associated Press (http://www.prdailysun.com/index.php?page=news.journalist&id=1256787160)

The Associated Press

Puerto Rico plans to build a hotel and a planetarium as part of a $50 million project to attract more visitors to the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, officials said Tuesday.
It is the first major announcement from the new managing consortium for the Arecibo Observatory, which fought budget cuts last year that could have forced its closure.
The planetarium would be built within two years and the hotel within five years, Puerto Rico’s Metropolitan University said. The school helps run the observatory with California-based SRI International, a nonprofit research group, and the Universities Space Research Association, a Maryland-based nonprofit founded under the National Academy of Sciences.
The plan is to convert an onsite cafeteria and staff housing into a hotel and restaurant to help promote the observatory as an educational tourism niche in the Caribbean, according to Puerto Rico’s tourism office.
Funding will come from several government agencies and public universities.
Among the project’s objectives is to create a doctoral program in astronomy and space science and to attract more than 50,000 students a year, said Federico Matheu, Metropolitan University president.
The 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) radio telescope that was featured in the movies “Contact” and “GoldenEye” currently attracts about 100,000 visitors a year.
In June, the National Science Foundation awarded a $42 million, five-year contract to the consortium to help finance studies at the observatory.
The radio telescope identified the first planets beyond the solar system, and it once sent a three-minute broadcast to the Hercules constellation in 1974 in a quest to contact alien civilizations.
The observatory, located on the island’s north coast, opened in 1963 and was operated by Cornell University until last year.

http://www.prdailysun.com/news/Puerto-Rico-touts-new-plans-for-giant-telescope

No se porque se enfocan solo en peliculas como Contact y Golden Eye si ya ha salido en par mas. Mencionenlas todas!!!!!

De todas formas son excelentes noticias.