Save Arecibo and SETI@Home

Posted 7/7/2008 4:21 AM EDT

The world's largest radio telescope and the data source for a global, grass-roots search for extraterrestrial intelligence is facing massive budget cuts that could end up shuttering the observatory, and scientists and other supporters are launching an Internet campaign to lobby Congress for what amounts to a stay of execution.

Operated by Cornell University under an agreement with the National Science Foundation, the observatory has a distinctive 1000-foot radio telescope that is nestled in a bowl-like crater in Puerto Rican hills a short drive from the city of San Juan.

The largest single aperture telescope on the planet, Arecibo has enabled astronomers to pinpoint the rotation rate of the planet Mercury, gather the first strong evidence of neutron stars and verify the existence of extra-solar planets. It also is widely recognized in popular culture for its roles in the James Bond movie Golden Eye and the movie Contact, a classic penned be Carl Sagan and acted out by Jodi Foster and Matthew McConaughey.

The observatory also was the home of Project Phoenix, a privately funded search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the data source for the SETI At Home project -- an unprecedented attempt to involve the masses in the search by garnering the power of desktop and laptop computers at homes around the world.

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