A 140-foot Contortionist

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A 140-foot Contortionist

This 140-foot (43-meter) aluminum-clad parabolic dish antenna sits on the world’s largest polar-aligned mount in Green Bank, West Virginia. The rounded yoke swivels around the central axis of the telescope which is aligned perfectly with the rotational axes of the Earth. The dish can swivel up and down, giving it a contortionist’s amount of flexibility. In this way, the telescope can easily track objects in the sky as they appear to rise and set from the Earth’s spin on its axis.

Credit: B. Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF

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The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
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