Arecibo Observatory - an impressive sight

The Arecibo Observatory is simply impressive. It’s a 1000 foot (305 meter) telescope, the world’s largest single-aperture. It contains the largest curved focusing dish on Earth, giving Arecibo the largest electromagnetic-wave-gathering capacity. The dish surface is made of 38,778 perforated aluminum panels, each about 3 by 6 feet (1 by 2 m), supported by a mesh of steel cables. It is used in three major areas of research: radio astronomy, atmospheric science, and radar astronomy. The visitor center is separated into several areas: The Auditorium, Tools and Technology, The Earth and Solar System, and the Work at Arecibo. The Tolld and Technology section includes an interactive model of the Arecibo radio telescope and a visual tour of the observatory. There were also some exhibits which provided hands-on experiences on the Doppler effect, light and color, the electromagnetic spectrum, and spectroscopy, the operation of the telescope, the optical laboratory and the H...