Arecibo Telescope

Historical eventDecember 12020

Arecibo Telescope

The Arecibo Telescope collapses.

In context

When
Tuesday, December 1 20206 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
21st century · 2020s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 2020.

What happened

The Arecibo Telescope was a 305 m (1,000 ft) spherical reflector radio telescope built into a natural sinkhole at the Arecibo Observatory located near Arecibo, Puerto Rico. A cable-mounted, steerable receiver and several radar transmitters for emitting signals were mounted 150 m (492 ft) above the dish. Completed in November 1963, the Arecibo Telescope was the world's largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years,

December 1 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 2000Vicente Fox
  2. 2001United Russia
  3. 2005Perm Oblast
  4. 2006Same-sex marriage in South Africa
  5. 2009Treaty of Lisbon
  6. 2011Almaty Metro
  7. 2018Oulu child sexual exploitation scandal
  8. 2019Arsenal Women 11–1 Bristol City Women
  9. 2019Vivianne Miedema
  10. 2019COVID-19 pandemic
  11. 2020Arecibo Telescope

Also in 2020

  • September 15Abraham AccordsThe Abraham Accords were signed in Washington, D.C. (signatories pictured), normalizing relations between Israel and two Arab nations, th…
  • September 15Bahrain–Israel normalization agreementSigning of the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement occurs in Washington, D.C., normalizing relations between Israel and two Arab natio…
  • September 52020 California wildfiresCalifornia wildfires: A pyrotechnic device at a gender reveal party ignited the El Dorado Fire (pictured), burning for 71 days and killin…
  • July 13Naya RiveraAfter a five day search, the body of American actress and singer Naya Rivera was recovered from Lake Piru, confirming her death.
  • July 13Death of Naya RiveraAfter a five-day search, the body of American actress and singer Naya Rivera is recovered from Lake Piru in California, where she had dro…
  • May 25George FloydGeorge Floyd, a black American man, was murdered (memorial pictured) during an arrest by a white police officer in Minneapolis, sparking…
  • August 102020 Midwest derechoDerecho in Iowa becomes the most costly thunderstorm disaster in U.S. history.
  • January 3Qasem SoleimaniIranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a pote…

Everything we record for 2020 →

Sources

Cite this page

“Arecibo Telescope”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/arecibo-telescope-2020-december-1, accessed October 27, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did Arecibo Telescope happen?

December 1 2020 — 6 years ago, on a Tuesday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.