Very Large Array

[raydio]

As some of you know, I am a Field Service Engineer for a Medical Device Company and travel extensively in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. And because I drive 99% of the time, at times I see some neat stuff. I was coming home from Mesa, AZ yesterday and got an emergency call from a customer in El Paso, TX. I was in a little mountain town of Heber, AZ when I was re-routed. So my route to the freeway was 4 hours of mountain highways across Arizona and New Mexico where I met up with I-25 in Socorro, NM which is home to the VLA.

I have lived in NM for almost 11 years and have never made the trek to visit the place. So as I'm approaching Socorro from the West I start seeing the dishes from probably 10 miles or so away. The array is about 50 miles West of the town itself and the picture certainly does not do the place justice -

 

[N5XZS]

Great place to go there. Had neat tour about 20 years ago. Very cool place!

Super sized dish, a super DX machine to be had with!

 

[dfergie]

Living in SE NM I rarely get a chance to go that way, 4 years ago Oryx hunting we did I-25, would love a tour.

 

[c-spand]

Very Large Array - National Radio Astronomy Observatory Great video narrated by Jodie Foster. Thank you for the picture. Very cool.

 

[cyberham]

Good video! Now you've done it. I just reserved 2001, 2010 and Contact DVDs at local library. I've seen all I think but not for a long time. I would like to tour the VLA if allowed. It would make a vacation destination.

Sent from my SM-G950W using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[raydio]

They have a neat visitor center and they do give tours of the Operations Center and there is a walking tour that takes you to the base of one of these 82 foot monsters.

27 - 82 foot diameter (25 meter) dishes in a Y configuration with an electronic resolution of a dish 22 miles across -

www.vla.nrao.edu/

 

[Cham]

Was there a few years ago. Very interesting place. Self guided tour takes you around the site. Was hoping to get a tour in the building where all the signal processing is done but no luck. Got a "T" shirt and VLA mouse-pad.
The opening shot from Space Odessy 2010 was filmed there too.
If the array is active, you can watch as the telescopes scan the object and shift as the earth rotates.

 

[raydio]

Found a webcam...updates the image every 15 seconds -

VLA Webcam - National Radio Astronomy Observatory

View a live video feed from the Very Large Array in Socorro, NM. The feed updates every 15 seconds. See anything interesting?

public.nrao.edu

 

[FTA4PA]

Found a webcam...updates the image every 15 seconds -

VLA Webcam - National Radio Astronomy Observatory

View a live video feed from the Very Large Array in Socorro, NM. The feed updates every 15 seconds. See anything interesting?

public.nrao.edu

Thanks!

 

[ken2400]

Very Large Array - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Gulcher]

I was living in Socorro for much of the time that they were building it, and have driven past it hundreds of times. Never stopped for a tour. Although once I got into FTA, I'll admit that every time I drove past, my thoughts drifted into wondering how to get one of those things in my pickup truck.

 

[Mikey11]

A Mesmerizing Time-Lapse of the Very Large Array

Signal to Noise combines motion graphics with time-lapse footage of one of the largest radio astronomy observatories in the world.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Bartles]

I've always wondered if you could take those small driect tv dishes replace the lnb's and create a small scale VLA to get C band. It wouldn't be practical, but it could be fun.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I've always wondered if you could take those small driect tv dishes replace the lnb's and create a small scale VLA to get C band. It wouldn't be practical, but it could be fun.

I'm not an engineer, but regardless of how sensitive the LNB is, I don't think you could overcome the loss of dish size.

 

[waylew]

It would be easier,he said jokingly,to take a whole lot of little dishes and focus them on one cband feed.
Kinda like the mirror arrays in big telescopes.