A broken cable smashed a hole 100 feet wide in the Arecibo Observatory

[Zorro]

One of the world's most prominent astronomical observatories has a hole.

On Monday, a 3-inch-thick cable at the Arecibo Observatory broke, tearing a gash 100 feet long in the reflector dish of the 20-acre radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

The observatory had just reopened after a temporary closure due to Tropical Storm Isaias when the cable, which helped support a metal platform, snapped at about 2:45 a.m. ET. Now the facility is closed again as engineers assess the damage, according to the University of Central Florida, a co-operator of the telescope.

It was not immediately clear how the cable broke or whether the damage was related to Isaias.

https://news.yahoo.com/broken-cable-smashed-hole-100-000800182.html

[Nevilledog]

1. Yikes!

[RKP5637]

2. Wow!!!

[kysrsoze]

3. Shame. I've visited Arecibo. Puerto Rico's had enough bad things happen to it.

[Brainfodder]

4. Sounds like aged infrastructure, and I have to harp on it, this is going to be a huge issue all over

AS IF WE NEEDED ANOTHER ONE!!!!!

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Broken cabling happens all of the time, otherwise we wouldn't have downed power lines and/or

communications links. I don't think people realize just how tough these lines are, they very heavy, very durable, and not prone easily to being broken. When you drive by and see a communications worker w/ their ladder leaning on the communications links, you can tell how strong these lines are and not prone to easily being swayed or moved. When I first started w/ the telephone company, I thought that the lines were very fragile and couldn't understand why the lines didn't break so easily when someone w/ up on a ladder leaning against the lines (communications links) and then once I started working w/ them, they are very heavy, very durable, not prone to breaking, etc.

[Baclava]

6. Alien saboteurs? I wouldn't put it past them, sneaky offworlders, they know we listening

[Midnightwalk]

7. At least one problem solved (sarcasm)

NASA had previously calculated a 1 in 70,000 chance that the space rock could impact our planet between 2086 and 2101, so astronomers wanted to track it more closely to better calculate the odds of an impact.

If we can’t look at it there’s no longer a problem. Or so I’ve heard.