At 9:43 pm on November 15, 1988, the 300-foot telescope collapsed on top of its control building. No-one was hurt, but the telescope was destroyed. After an investigation, officials found a metal plate deep inside the telescope had finally worn out, and its position was critical to the structure.
The last photograph of the 300-foot telescope intact
This is the last photograph of the 300-foot showing it intact. It was taken on the afternoon of November 15, 1988, hours before the giant dish collapsed.
The culprit of the 300-foot telescope collapse
On the night of November 15, 1988, the 300-foot Telescope in Green Bank West Virginia collapsed. After an investigation, a large but sheared metal gusset plate was found in the wreckage. The exact triangular plate can be seen in this photo taken during construction of the 300-foot in 1961.
Viewing the 300-foot telescope from Route 28/92
For decades, this was the view of Green Bank’s 300-foot telescope from Route 28/92 heading north in West Virginia
Green Bank’s 300-foot telescope receives new surface
In 1970, the 300-foot telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia got a new surface of higher-grade, finer aluminum mesh. During the following year, the telescope’s control building got a new addition: an RFI-shielded control room seen here as the taller half of the building.
Tracking Arm installed beneath 300-foot telescope
The 300-foot telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia was a transit telescope, meaning that its dish did not track objects across the sky but watched them as they arced overhead. In the early 1970s, a tracking arm was installed up on the feed arm to slowly move the receivers in time with the movement of the sources the telescope was observing.