The instrument platform of the 305-meter telescope at Arecibo Observatory¹ in Puerto Rico collapsed² overnight, according to the National Science Foundation.

美国国家科学基金会称，位于波多黎各的直径达305米的阿雷西博射电望远镜设备平台一夜之间坍塌。

 

据美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）1日报道，NSF当天在推特上说，“阿雷西博射电望远镜的平台一夜之间坍塌，所幸没有人员伤亡报告。”

 

Engineers assessed the damage and determined³ that all three of the telescope's support towers broke off, sending the 900-ton instrument platform plummeting⁴ down to the dish below. The telescope's support cables also dropped. The observatory's learning center was significantly damaged by the falling cables as well.

工程师们评估并认定了损坏情况：望远镜的三个支撑塔全部断裂，重达900吨的接收平台坠落到下面的碟形反射盘上。此外，望远镜的支撑钢缆也已断裂。望远镜的学习中心也被坠落的电缆严重损坏。

 

据悉，阿雷西博望远镜于1963年建成，口径305米。在“中国天眼”FAST2016年9月建成前，阿雷西博望远镜是世界最大的单口径射电望远镜。

 

2017年飓风“玛丽亚”重创波多黎各，造成阿雷西博望远镜钢缆第一次断裂，此后钢缆多次出现断裂。就在11月19日，NSF宣布，该望远镜将被关闭并以可控方式拆除，但相关计划还没实施，就发生了坍塌事故。

 

Following two cable breaks in August and November, experts determined that the radio telescope was so structurally⁵ unsound that it had to be decommissioned.

继8月和11月两次钢缆断裂后，专家们确定，阿雷西博岌岌可危，将面临关闭。

 

长期在阿雷西博天文台工作的物理学家门德斯（Abel Mendez）告诉美国《商业内幕》（Business Insider）记者，“当我得知此事时，我完全崩溃了（I was totally devastated）”。

 

"It's hard to take. It's like losing someone important in your life. Yeah, 2020 — it's not good."

“我很难接受这个事实，这就像失去了你生命中重要的人。2020年不太走运。”

 

门德斯表示，“现在唯一在做类似研究的地方是中国500米口径球面射电望远镜，它比阿雷西博要灵敏。失去阿雷西博，就失去了一天24小时监控微弱无线电信号的能力，现在我们只有一只眼睛了。”

 

"The only place that we have to do something like that, that'd be sensitive or more sensitive than Arecibo, is now FAST in China. ...The United States lost all that capability⁶ because it doesn't have Arecibo."

“中国的500米口径球面射电望远镜（FAST）是唯一一个能做类似研究的了，它比阿雷西博更灵敏。……没了阿雷西博，美国就失去了这项本领。”

 

"If you are monitoring a source of interest which is in the weak radio spectrum⁷, you need two big radio telescopes: one pointing toward something during the day, and the other through the nighttime."

“要监控微弱无线电信号，需要两个大型射电望远镜：一个在白天观察，另一个在夜间观察。”

 

"If you lose Arecibo, then you lose the ability to monitor — 24 hours a day — a faint source of radio signals. Now we just have one eye."

“失去阿雷西博，就失去了一天24小时监控微弱无线电信号的能力。现在我们只有一只眼睛了。”

 

《商业内幕》称，美国失去了其最优秀的小行星和外星人搜寻者（The US has lost its best asteroid⁸ hunter and alien seeker）。

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