Arecibo Radio Telescope

The Arecibo Radio Telescope is operated by Cornwell University for the National Science Foundation. It is the biggest single dish radio telescope in the world. It is made from almost 40,000 perforated aluminum panels, each one measuring 1 meter by 2 meters. The surface of the dish is 305 meters fixed. Very faint signals can be detected because of its huge size and precise configuration.

Some important scientific discoveries have been made using the Arecibo telescope. Previously the rotation rate of Mercury was thought to be 88 days, but after using radio waves, it was discovered that the rate was only 59 days.

The radio Arecibo telescope in 1989 was the first to directly image the asteroid, asteroid 4769 Castalia. The next year pulsar PSR B1257t12 was discovered which led to discover its two orbiting planets.