Moving the 85-2 telescope farther along the road separating it from its partner, the 85-1, otherwise known as the Howard E. Tatel Telescope. The two telescopes formed the NRAO’s first array, the Green Bank Interferometer. Changing the distance between the 85-footers changed the resolution of the array’s combined view: farther equals higher resolution.
Construction of the 85-3
Assembling the 85-3, the third 85-foot telescope kit purchased from the Blaw-Knox Corporation. In 1967, it joined the 85-2 and 85-1, also known as the Howard E. Tatel 85-foot telescope, to expand the NRAO’s first array, the Green Bank Interferometer. The GBI was changeable, because these additional telescopes had their own built-in truck wheels to haul them up and down a stretch of road leading from the Tatel. Changing the distance between the 85-footers changed the resolution of the array’s combined view: farther equals higher resolution. By adding a third element into the array, the sensitivity of the array increased.
An Eagle Has Landed
The 27 antennas of the Very Large Array (VLA) offer wonderful vantage points for New Mexico’s birds of prey. Here, a Golden Eagle watches the desert for a snack fifty feet in the air on the wiring shelf of an antenna.
Doing the Splits
A 25-meter dish antenna of the Very Large Array (VLA) is carefully split in half at its spin axis. Mechanics will climb into the hollow of the base, in the foreground, to inspect the roller bearings for wear, tear, and grease levels.
No Receivers in this Antenna
A shell of a 25-meter antenna of the Very Large Array (VLA) in central New Mexico. It was assembled and hauled to this set of piers, but it would not be ready to observe until a suite of receivers was installed in the hole in the center of the dish.
A Young VLA
The Very Large Array in December of 1979, one month after the final and 28th antenna had been delivered.