Very Large Array

Driving through New Mexico, in the plains of Saint Augustin, 50 miles west of Socorro, I spotted what looked like old fashioned satellite dishes lined up in an X.

I actually recognized what it was from the movies - a Very Large Array. Who says you can't learn anything from movies?

In order to be better informed, I Googled it and found out this is 27 dishes that are 82 foot in diameter, and can be moved on tracks to cover an area as large as 20 by 20 miles; linked together they form a single image of the radio source being studied. They are part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array, and the information it gathers is combined with information from other facilities at Green Bank, WV, Tucson, AZ, and Charlottesville, VA. It was constructed between 1974 and 1982.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array