Arecibo, Puerto Rico
A natural sinkhole that held the Arecibo radio telescope until 2020.
Terra Explorer Mines, dams and mountain roads
Drag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom
Make this model
The Standard resolution model is free as STL, 3MF, Colored 3MF, OBJ and a 16-bit heightmap. High resolution samples the place about ten times more finely.
- Region
- Puerto Rico
- Position
- 18.3441, -66.7528
- Area
- 2 × 2 km
- Real elevation
- 161 to 406 m (245 m of relief)
- Printed size
- 150 mm (5.9 in) wide, about 1:13,300
- Heights
- 2× exaggeration
- Elevation data
- USGS 3D Elevation Program, 1–10 m per point
- Suggested color
- Natural
- Group
- Mines, dams and mountain roads
About Arecibo, Puerto Rico
The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and formerly known as the Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, is an observatory in Barrio Esperanza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico, owned by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). The observatory's main instrument was the Arecibo Telescope, a 305 m (1,000 ft) spherical reflector dish built into a natural sinkhole, with a cable-mount steerable receiver and several radar transmitters for emitting signals mounted 150 m (492 ft) above the dish. Completed in 1963, it was the world's largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China. On August 10 and November 6, 2020, two of the receiver's support cables broke and the NSF announced that it would decommission the telescope. The telescope collapsed on December 1, 2020.
From Wikipedia: Arecibo Observatory, text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. The article’s history lists its authors.
Questions about Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Where is Arecibo?
Arecibo is in Puerto Rico at 18.3441, -66.7528. The model covers a 2 by 2 kilometer square around that point.
How high is the terrain in the Arecibo model?
The land in this model runs from 161 to 406 m (245 m of relief). These are the measured heights, printed 2 times taller so the shape is easy to see.
Can I 3D print Arecibo?
Yes. Download the free Standard resolution STL and print it on any FDM or resin printer. It is 150 mm wide and about 41.8 mm tall, on a solid 5 mm base, at a scale of about 1:13,300. It also works for CNC carving. Use Customize to change the width, base thickness or height exaggeration, make it round or add a name plate.
How accurate is the Arecibo model?
It is built from real elevation measurements, not an artist's guess: the USGS 3D Elevation Program, mostly airborne laser scans at 1 to 10 meters per point. The shaded picture on this page is made from the same data.
Is the Arecibo model free?
The Standard resolution model is free as STL, 3MF, Colored 3MF, OBJ and a 16-bit heightmap. High resolution samples the place about ten times more finely and is a paid upgrade.
What is a Arecibo terrain model good for?
People use it as a desk piece, an engineering classroom model or a gift for someone who works there.
About this terrain model
Embossify Terra builds Arecibo, Puerto Rico from real measured elevation, not an artist's guess. In the United States the heights come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program, mostly airborne laser scans that resolve every 1 to 10 meters.
The model covers a 2 by 2 kilometer square centered on 18.3441, -66.7528. It prints 150 mm (5.9 in) wide on a solid base, a scale of about 1:13,300. The heights are exaggerated 2× so the shape is easy to see and feel; you can change that when you customize the model. The sea is flattened to zero, so land stands on a clean base.
New to terrain printing? Read how Terra works. The shaded picture on this page is made by Embossify from the same elevation data.