The telescope's frequency range, and thus its sensitivity, previously 50 MHz to 3,000 MHz, now increases to 10,000 MHz. We will look at how galaxies form and how stars are born, at fainter pulsars, other worlds' moons, and the dynamics of the upper atmosphere with more bandwidth, more clarity, better resolution and greater sensitivity than ever before. The upgrade had been under planning, design and construction since the early 1980s. Over that time, many people, both within NAIC and Cornell and from other institutions in the United States and overseas, have been involved. Unchanged in the upgrade is Arecibo's trademark reflector dish.
Most radio telescopes use a parabolic antenna that can be steered to any direction.
Thus, signals can be captured from a greater slice of the sky. So clouds, haze, even daylight do not interfere with radio astronomy. It captures these electromagnetic waves and reflects them to a secondary reflector enclosed in the dome suspended above it, which in turn concentrates them to a focal point. After being amplified, the signals are sent via fiber optic cables to the operations building, where further processing and data recording occur. The improvements help all of Arecibo's areas of study.