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The 36-foot (12m) telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona was used from 1968 through 2000. It is famous for detecting dozens of molecules in space by observing the Universe in millimeter waves. Here we see the telescope resting under the cover of the building above it.

The 20-meter telescope arrived as a guest at Green Bank in 1994. It was built by RSI and installed by the US Naval Observatory as a member of its various Earth observing programs. In 2000, USNO cutbacks shut it down, but we kept it running to use as a receiver-testing telescope. In 2012, it became the first radio telescope in the UNC’s Skynet project of remotely-controlled educational telescopes.

The 20-meter telescope arrived as a guest at Green Bank in 1994. It was built by RSI and installed by the US Naval Observatory as a member of its various Earth observing programs. In 2000, USNO cutbacks shut it down, but we kept it running to use as a receiver-testing telescope. In 2012, it became the first radio telescope in the UNC’s Skynet project of remotely-controlled educational telescopes.

The 40-foot telescope, the world’s first fully automated radio telescope, observing in Green Bank next to its new underground control room.

A view of the 40-foot radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia, the world’s first automated radio telescope, with its underground control room.

The 40-foot radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia became the world’s first automated radio telescope on December 14, 1961. It is still in use today by students throughout the year as a research and training telescope.