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Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

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Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#311

Post by betwixthewires »

est31 wrote: post #88

I've wondered about the exact time of the collapse. Apparently there is a seismic observatory only tens of meters away from the telescope dish. The station code is AOPR [0]. After retrieving the mseed data from the web API using curl, and installing obspy from pip, I could plot the events. This is the result: [1]. You can see two "events". One at Nov 30, 23:12 UTC, and a second, larger one at Dec 1st, 11:52 UTC. Upon…

Do you happen to know of some sources where I can find more API access to data and information like this? I'd love to be able to pull seismic data, weather data, ambient light data (as examples) or any other kind of data from all over the world just for fun.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#312

Post by JakeKalstad »

dukeofdoom wrote: post #279

I was there 10 years ago. I have some video and photos from the observatory. Was pretty awesome place to visit. One of a kind in the wold. But even back then some of the panels looked damaged. Hard to imagine that an observatory of such scientific importance, would be neglected and allowed to rust away until cable break. Trump Created The Space Force, and bragged about how much money he gave Puerto Rico after the hur…

https://www.nature.com/news/arecibo-observatory-director-qui...

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#313

Post by splintercell »

jlarocco wrote: post #139
VikingCoder wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've begun imagining that for Defense spending, government money that's spent in a State must have come from that State's federal income taxes. I'm exhausted seeing data that indicates that states like mine put in more money than they get from the Federal government, and watching people from states that receive more than they put in talk about welfare state, wealth redistribution, etc.

Yeah, 100% agree, and I wish they'd do it for everything. My state is in the same boat, and I don't mind the taxes, but if the states getting it are going to whine about it, I don't want to force them to take it...

Are you saying that its unfair that money is being taken from you(r state) and being spent on people you don't believe deserve it?

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#314

Post by WhompingWindows »

mrtksn wrote: post #285
dukeofdoom wrote: post #279

I was there 10 years ago. I have some video and photos from the observatory. Was pretty awesome place to visit. One of a kind in the wold. But even back then some of the panels looked damaged. Hard to imagine that an observatory of such scientific importance, would be neglected and allowed to rust away until cable break. Trump Created The Space Force, and bragged about how much money he gave Puerto Rico after the hur…

>Similar things happened during collapse of the USSR. Major scientific projects just got left behind to rust. It's fascinating to think about it. Some projects like advanced rocket engines were salvaged by people who care and other projects like the Buran shuttle were left to rot and destroyed by petty stuff like rooftop collapse. At the end though, maybe it's just a natural selection process. Arguably, saving the Bu…

Saving vs Preserving: These important historical scientific devices might be fun to view later. It is interesting to think about these MASSIVE aerospace museums with hundreds of planes, like one out in Tucson, AZ. Just hangars and hangars of historical planes, with a few historically interested visitors. How much preservation is the right amount?

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#315

Post by zajio1am »

tt433 wrote: post #254
vxNsr wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Washington DC isn't a state because it was literally created to not be a state. If they want to give DC residents voting rights they should make it impossible to be a DC resident and instead anyone who lives within DC should vote as part of the state the land was taken from for federal elections. That solves everyone's problems (well aside from the democrats who are trying to get another 2 seats in the senate). Local…

That this is clearly a partisan issue for you in your own words instead of an issue of Americans receiving their due representation is disappointing.

One can ensure people have their due representation without making DC state. e.g., giving DC special senators and representatives in House (with regular voting powers) without making DC state (and thus keeping US congress exclusive jurisdiction over DC).

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#316

Post by maigret »

kzrdude wrote: post #245
dheera wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no way of replacing How did they build the cables in the first place? Couldn't they just snip the cables with a helicopter or unmanned drone with a flying chopsaw and string new ones as if it was a brand new construction? Basically I'm not understanding how it is impossible to replace something but it is evidently possible to build that something.

The thing that was hanging suspended above the dish was weighing 900 tons. I don't know how it could be that heavy (it's probably pretty big), but that sounds too heavy for any helicopter or drone to lift - even if it only had to hold 1/100th of the weight of it while the cable was being replaced.

Interesting, I read 300 tons (which is already a lot!)

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#317

Post by Miraste »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #234
vxNsr wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well that's new.... I was there back in 2017 and everyone I spoke to was very against it, and I remember when I looked up the stats they also showed the majority weren't for it. Still looks like it's a close issue, statehood is a big deal and affects everyone dramatically, kinda feel like it should have overwhelming support, not 51% of 52% of ppl... that's actually only 26% of eligible voters voting for it.

Would you believe, almost exactly the same proportion of the U.S. electorate that voted for Donald Trump in 2016?

What? He got 46%.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#318

Post by URSpider94 »

dheera wrote: post #229
petschge wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cables were (originally) redundant. There are actually replacement cables on the way from Germany right now. But after the one main cable failed earlier this year they noticed that all cables are MUCH weaker than previously thought. So there was (even before the collapse) no way of replacing the existing cables with the replacements. And yes that probably implies that they should have swapped out all cables years…

> no way of replacing How did they build the cables in the first place? Couldn't they just snip the cables with a helicopter or unmanned drone with a flying chopsaw and string new ones as if it was a brand new construction? Basically I'm not understanding how it is impossible to replace something but it is evidently possible to build that something.

The answer is that they almost certainly built it with almost nothing hanging in the center, and without the dish below it. Once the basic platform was in place, then they hoisted up all of the components to build out the 900 ton platform (actually, that took years and years as equipment was added to upgrade it).

So, in essence, doing a replacement of all of the cables would need to start by essentially disassembling the thing completely and then rebuilding it.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#320

Post by VikingCoder »

splintercell wrote: post #313
jlarocco wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, 100% agree, and I wish they'd do it for everything. My state is in the same boat, and I don't mind the taxes, but if the states getting it are going to whine about it, I don't want to force them to take it...

Are you saying that its unfair that money is being taken from you(r state) and being spent on people you don't believe deserve it?

I'm saying that I think there are programs that are good and beneficial, and others call them "evil, wealth redistribution." Well, if that's the majority view in a state, and that state also takes in more Federal dollars than its residents puts in, then maybe for Defense spending they shouldn't be able to take money from another state. They can self-fund it. And if they can't maybe it makes more sense that the jobs that come from Defense spending should go to a state whose residents are willing and able to pay for it.
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