Astronomers meet this week in Washington to discuss the future of Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the largest radio telescope in the world. The leading item on the agenda is how to prevent the telescope — 1,000 feet wide (300 meters) — from going to the scrap yard. In November 2006, the National Science Foundation (NSF) advised cuts of 20 to 25 percent in Arecibo's funding to free up money for new NSF initiatives. The National Astronomy and...