Up Close: The William Gordon Telescope

Based in Puerto Rico, this is the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope. People come here to view the planets of the solar system passing through the northern half of their orbit.

  • Words + Photography: Enrico Sacchetti

The William Gordon Telescope was completed in 1963 and is the world's largest single-aperture radio telescope, located at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The main collecting dish measures 305 metres and is the biggest curved focusing dish on Earth, giving Arecibo the largest electromagnetic wave-gathering capacity globally.

Puerto Rico’s location allows the telescope to view the planets in the solar system over the northern half of their orbit. I arrived at the Arecibo Observatory around 4pm and was briefly shown around the various parts of the telescope. The plan was to check into my hotel and head straight back out for some evening shots, when it began to rain. Luckily I knew, as we were on a tropical Island, that the rain would probably cease soon enough and I made my way out to the site, where I was rewarded with this wonderful view of misty fog enveloping the telescope.

Enrico Sacchetti is a photographer based between Rome and London

Article taken from

Issue 02
Articles

Further Reading

View All

Landscape For Giants

A collaboration between Inuit of Baffin Island and Canada Goose has elevated recycling into a dynamic tool for community building.

This Robotic Claw Gently Captures Sea Life Without Harming Them

Cultivating jellyfish in labs is difficult, so scientists have searched for years for a way to collect deep sea samples without hurting them. This origami-like robot could be the eureka moment.

The First Woman To Row Across An Ocean

Sylvia Cook tells the story of how she rowed across the Pacific with adventurer John Fairfax in 1971: surviving shark attacks, a cyclone, a broken rudder and being washed up on a coral reef.

AI Killed the Radio Star?

Last year Francois Pachet was poached by Spotify as one of the world’s foremost pioneers in applying AI to music. As he pushes computers closer to the Holy Grail of composing their own works, should musicians fear or celebrate him?

Valentina Tereshkova: Factory Worker to Outer Space

At the age of 26, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to have flown in space. Avaunt considers her meteoric rise from textile factory worker to hero of the Soviet Union.

Jason Everman: The Life Quixotic

The one-time Nirvana and Soundgarden guitarist went to war yet outlived the frontmen from both bands. He discusses a life in music and the military, and the lessons learnt from the original Renaissance Man, Cellini.
Browse by Category