Photo – Page 35 – National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Newspaper article claiming 300-foot telescope was attacked by aliens

Zapped by Aliens?

On the night of November 15, 1988, the 300-foot telescope in Green Bank. West Virginia collapsed. Before official investigations discovered the cause as a worn metal gusset plate, theories abounded. One example of those theories is shown on the cover of this newspaper, saying that the telescope was attacked by “hostile space aliens.”

One arm of the VLA

The southwest arm of the three-armed Very Large Array is dotted with antennas for miles across the Plains of San Agustin in New Mexico. The VLA antennas are picked up and hauled along rail tracks several times a year to sharpen or deepen its view of the radio cosmos. At its widest separation, the outlying VLA antennas are 22 miles apart. The yellow Antenna Assembly Building is near the middle of this photo.

The VLA Array looking away

The antennas of the Very Large Array (VLA) observe the radio skies for an estimated 5000 hours each year. Scientists from around the world must submit proposals between February 1 and August 1 to use specific configurations of the VLA. See the most recent configuration schedule here.

Lining up the VLA antennas

There are 27 dish antennas within the Very Large Array that are identical 25-meter telescopes working together as one. This photo shows the array in its most compact configuration, but during other times of the year, the antennas will move farther apart. The movement of these telescopes is similar to the zoom function on a camera, as the telescopes more farther away from each other they capture a larger picture of a portion of the universe.

Outstanding in Wide Field

The Very Large Array in New Mexico is the world’s most powerful and versatile radio telescope. Its 27 antennas work together as one giant telescope nearly a mile across to 22 miles wide. They all first observed the skies together as the VLA in 1979.

The WIDAR Supercomputer

This is the supercomputer for the Very Large Array (VLA) in central New Mexico. Housed in its own Faraday cage-equipped room, this incredible instrument can perform 16 quadrillion operations every second. This computer was designed and built by our partners at the National Research Council in Canada. They came up with a new method of combining data, called Wideband Interferometric Digital ARchitecture, or WIDAR for short.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
	Founded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.
	The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense..."
	AUI collaborates with the scientific community and research sponsors to plan, build, and operate cutting-edge facilities. We cultivate excellence, deliver value, enhance education, and engage the public.