![[An overhead view of the massive Arecibo telescope built into a natural sinkhole. The green Puerto Rican forests can be seen surrounding the telescope dish.]](https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/files/2021/05/cibo1.jpg)
Famous for its appearances in movies and television including GoldenEye (1995), Contact (1997) and an episode of The X-Files (“Little Green Men”), the Arecibo telescope is a massive 305m (1,000 ft) radio telescope. Built into a natural karst sinkhole on the island of Puerto Rico in 1963, it was in fact the largest single dish telescope in the world until China completed its Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in 2016. Unfortunately for the astronomical community, Arecibo suffered severe damages this year that led to its eventual collapse…