USA - National Radio Observatory

Searching the Universe with Radio Telescopes

Above the town of Socorro, New Mexico State, USA. Driving west of Socorro, the road travels up from the valley of the Rio Grande river, traverses a sloping plain and winds upward through canyons of igneous rock from ancient volcanos and through forests of pinon pine and mountain cedar. Antelope, deer, and cattle outnumber the people in this lonely land. Coyotes and foxes are seen regularly, as are eagles and hawks cruising on the mountain breezes. Coming to a high plateau at 2100 m elevation (7000 feet), the forest suddenly opens out to a wide lonely prairie. In the middle of this prairie is a group of huge, white satellite dishes - casual travelers are stunned by this strange mixture of lonely mountain landscape with the modern technology for outer space exploration. This was the location of our travels this last week.

This surprising sight is one the world's premier Radio Astronomy Observatories, the Very Large Array, located on a high mountain plateau near Socorro City, New Mexico State, USA. This fascinating observatory searches the universe, planets, stars, and galaxies using radio waves rather than visible light. http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/

This observatory uses 27 different radio receiver dishes, each one 25 meters in diameter. It can spread the different dishes in a Y-shaped configuration to give the resolution of an antenna 36km (22 miles) across, with the sensitivity of a dish 130 meters (426.5 feet) in diameter.

This astronomy observatory is in a beautiful mountain location, far from city lights and the electronic chatter of cell phones, radios, and other electronic interference. It works 24/7 - 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The visitor's center is very informative on the technology used in the radio telescopes and the beautiful images from different galaxies.