Arecibo, Puerto Rico - The celebrated Arecibo Observatory telescope in Puerto Rico, which once starred in a James Bond film, collapsed Tuesday when its 900-ton receiver platform plunged 450 feet onto the radio dish below.
Photographs showed clouds of dust rising into the air and the remains of the telescope instruments scattered across the site. An action scene from the Bond film"GoldenEye" featuring Pierce Brosnan took place high above the dish, and in"Contact," an astronomer played by Jodie Foster used the observatory in her quest for alien signals.Abel Mendez, director of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, said the platform fell sometime before 8:00 am , describing it as"a total disaster.
The telescope was in operation for 57 years until August, and scientists had lobbied the NSF to reverse its decision to close the site. The observatory's website said the telescope was"a world-leading radio astronomy, solar system radar and atmospheric physics facility, contributing highly relevant data to support discovery, innovation and the advancement of science."
Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)