This year, the Arecibo Observatory celebrates its 50th birthday. The site has been visited by countless of scientists from all over the world, by students from kindergarden to college and has become a famous touristic destination.

Among its important contributions to science, the Arecibo Observatory has helped elaborate maps of distant planets, calculated distances between galaxies, registered waves that have traveled millions of light years, and observed new galaxies being born. 

Until recently, people where able to experience space the way an astronaut would by watching the Dish Network Earth Channel, a 24 hour, seven days a week feed that broadcast directly from the commercial satellite Echostar 11. The author explains how the images where captured and transimitted to Earth. The camera stopped working recently, but fortunately for space aficionados, videos are still available on Youtube.

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