Skip to content

Spotting Asteroids

Asteroid 2001 GQ2, as imaged by the Arecibo in April 2001.
Asteroid 2001 GQ2, as imaged by the Arecibo in April 2001. Image: NAIC

Arecibo spotted its first asteroid in 1989, an object named 4769 Castalia. The observatory would go on to find many more and collect important data about potentially dangerous near-Earth objects. One of the more regrettable aspects of the dish having to be shut down is that Arecibo will no longer scour the skies in search of potential threats.

Related Articles