What does the discovery of a binary pulsar in 1974, the discovery of the first exoplanets, and the most powerful message humans have ever sent out into space all have in common? They all happened at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
With a spherical reflector dish that was 305 meters (roughly 1000 feet) in diameter, Arecibo held the title of world's largest radio telescope for over half a century — from its construction in 1963 until 2016. To the dismay of astronomers around the world, in 2020, Arecibo's reflector dish collapsed when support cables gave way, leading to the eventual decommissioning of one of science's most fruitful instruments.
