One of the most famous telescopes on the planet, the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, collapsed on Tuesday, December 1 after fifty-seven years of operation. The Arecibo radio telescope was used by astronomers around the world and made it possible to discover the first planets orbiting a star outside the Sun.. Two of the cables that supported the 900 tonnes of telescope instruments broke on August 10 and November 6, for an unknown reason. The fall of the cables had pierced the satellite dish. The telescope was then deemed very unstable and unrepairable and was to be demolished. Access to it had since been banned for fear of a sudden collapse, which finally took place just before 8 p.m.. on the 1st of December.