Very Large Array at Sunset

Matt Tilghman · December 11, 2012

Hey all. This photo is a few years old, but I've never shown it here... so I hope you don't mind. The Very Large Array (or VLA) was on my must-see list during my stay in New Mexico. It had made an impression on me ever since I saw it in the movie Contact, where they use these satellite dishes to communicate with aliens However, unlike the movie implies, the VLA is not used to search for extraterrestrial life forms. It's used to observe the cosmos, just like more traditional telescopes are. But unlike most telescopes, which observe visible light waves, the VLA observes radio waves. The 27 giant satellite dishes are all mounted on rails, and can be moved independently. The result is that the array can behave like a single antenna whose diameter is that of the array – up to 22 miles!