Arecibo Observatory

With a newly refurbished and expanded Science and Visitor Center and technologically-enhanced exhibitor space and auditorium, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico continues to be a world-leading radio astronomy, solar system radar and atmospheric physics facility. The telescope “dish” is 305 m (1000 feet) in diameter,167 feet deep, and covers an area of about twenty acres. Suspended 450 feet above the reflector is the 900 ton platform that hangs in midair on eighteen cables. “It is the largest curved focusing antenna on the planet, which means it is the world’s most sensitive radio telescope.”