Arecibo Observatory
Arecibo Observatory (PR-625, Arecibo)– If this space-age facility deep in the mountains of northwest Puerto Rico looks like something from a sci-fi movie, it is. Contact, with Jodie Foster was filmed here, along with the James Bond spy thriller GoldenEye. Located within the municipality of Arecibo (toward the northwest coast of the island), the radio telescope is operated by the non-profit scientific research organizations SRI International, USRA, and UMET (under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation).
The view over the 1,000-ft.-wide dish (the largest such telescope ever built) is a jaw-dropper. It is used in three major areas of research: radio astronomy, aeronomy, and radar astronomy observations of the larger objects of the Solar System. The visitor center doubles as a superb museum on astronomy, the atmosphere, and Earth.