Cuts threaten world's largest telescope By DANICA COTO, Associated Press Writer

Thu May 31, 8:46 PM ET

ARECIBO, Puerto Rico - Engineers will travel to this Puerto Rican coastal town in coming weeks to study whether to shut down the world's largest radio telescope, which was featured in the movie "Contact" [10th anniversary of that film this July] but now faces steep budget cuts, observatory officials said Thursday.

Full article here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601/ap_on_sc/puerto_rico_observatory;_ylt=AggXOCpBK8R3VfBeu64MLcdvieAA

To quote:

Observatory officials said Thursday the impending study does not mean the complex will close entirely — at least not immediately.

"That's not our desire. But we are looking at this for planning purposes," said Richard Barvainis, program manager of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, which includes the Arecibo observatory.

Another quote:

Officials said that regardless of what happens with the possible budget cuts, the telescope's visitor center, which draws about 120,000 people a year, would remain open.

Ah yes, like the Creation Museum, a monument to humanity's
penny-pinching and short-sightedness.

They (and you) can say they will be building a bigger and better radio
telescope in the future, but that is likely a decade or more away.
What good does that do the science which only Arecibo can do in
the meantime?