Ants on a Plate
From over 200 feet above them, painters look like ants on the 2.3 acre dish of the Green Bank Telescope. Each of the 2004 aluminum panels of the GBT’s surface must be scraped and repainted on a rotating schedule. It takes years to paint the entire telescope, and painters arrive every summer to keep this endless task going. The paint on the GBT is a special blend that reflects sunlight, gives off heat, and its molecules do not give off radio waves.
Credit: B. Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF
