Marc Weigert

Review of The Arecibo Observatory

This place is just amazing. A huge, 1,000 ft diame...

This place is just amazing. A huge, 1,000 ft diameter spherical (as opposed to parabolic) antenna, basically in the middle of the jungle, located within the karst mountains of Puerto Rico, a very distinct looking area, reminiscent of a smaller version of the mountains of Guangxi in China. A major feat of engineering from the early sixties, this place has lost none of its relevance for science and none of its coolness factors. No wonder it was chosen as a bad guy 'lair' in the James Bond movie "Goldeneye", and also appeared in "Contact". I especially enjoyed two VIP tours, one to see the control center, which I would almost describe as quaint, as it still has some decades-old equipment (or at least rackmounts), combined with modern linux, windows and apple workstations. The other tour leads down directly to the antenna that was built in an existing sinkhole, which is constantly monitored for activity. This place is well worth the approximately one hour drive from San Juan.